South Sudan's Salva Kiir sacks VP Benjamin Bol Mel

South Sudan President Salva Kiir. [AFP]

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Wednesday dismissed Vice-President Benjamin Bol Mel, who was slated to be his likely successor to lead the unstable nation.

It follows the unravelling of a fragile power-sharing deal between Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar in recent months that has raised fears of a return to civil war.

"I, Salva Kiir... do hereby relieve his excellency Benjamin Bol Mel from his position as the first vice-president," according to a presidential decree read on the public broadcaster SSBC, which did not offer a reason for the decision.

Bol Mel, a businessman known as the regime's financier, had risen in power, having been appointed in February as South Sudan's second vice-president.

He then became the number two figure in the presidential party in May -- a position from which he was also dismissed on Wednesday.

Although Bol Mel was sanctioned by the United States in 2017 for corruption, many analysts considered him the likely successor to 74-year-old Kiir.

The world's newest country, South Sudan, has experienced years of instability and poverty despite being rich in oil resources.

In September, Kiir's long-time rival, Machar, was charged with treason and crimes against humanity over his alleged involvement in an ethnic militia's attack on a military base in March that the government said killed more than 250 soldiers.

South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 but quickly descended into a five-year civil war between supporters of Kiir and Machar in which some 400,000 people died.

A 2018 peace deal ended the fighting and created a unity government, but its leaders repeatedly failed to hold elections or unify their armed forces.