South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Monday evening removed Angelina Teny from her position as Minister of Interior and replaced her with a trusted associate.
Gen. Aleu Ayieny Aleu, who held the Interior Minister role from 2013 to 2015 and later served as governor of Warrap State between January 2021 and November 2022, was selected to take charge of the ministry.
Teny had overseen the Interior Ministry under the terms of the 2018 power-sharing agreement. This followed a disputed exchange of portfolios in March 2023, during which Kiir moved her from the defense portfolio to interior while assuming control of defense himself.
As a high-ranking figure in Riek Machar’s SPLM-IO party—and his wife—Teny had been largely inactive in her ministerial duties since March 2025, after Machar, the nation’s suspended first vice president, was placed under house arrest.
In practice, Deputy Minister Gen. Mangar Buong had been managing most of the ministry’s responsibilities. Reports from June 2025 indicate that South Sudan’s National Security Service (NSS) seized a smartphone, laptop, and internet modem belonging to Teny.
The same set of presidential decrees, announced via the state-run South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC), also relieved Lakes State Governor Gen. Rin Tueny Mabor of his duties and named Madhang Majok Meen as the new governor.
Gen. Rin, who assumed office in June 2021, had been instrumental in addressing communal clashes within the state. Observers note that the reasons for his dismissal remain uncertain, though he is anticipated to transition into a military or security position.
Additional high-level figures dismissed include Dak Duop Bichiok, Minister of Public Service and Human Resource Management; James Hoth Mai, Minister of Labour; Nadia Arop Dudi, Minister of Culture, Museums and National Heritage; Deng Joh Angok, Deputy Governor of Upper Nile State; and Gen. Thoi Chany Reat, director general of the NSS’s General Intelligence Bureau.
All those removed belong to President Kiir’s SPLM party.
The new appointees are Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth as Minister of Public Service and Human Resources Development, Anthony Lino Makana as Minister of Labour, Sarah Nyanath Elijah Yong as Minister of Culture, Museums and National Heritage, Deng Akuei Kak as Deputy Governor of Upper Nile State, and Gen. Abraham Ket Bichiok as director of the NSS General Intelligence Bureau.
According to sources, President Kiir also dismissed his brother-in-law, Gen. Gregory Vasili, from his role as undersecretary in the Ministry of Defense, appointing Gen. Akec Tong Aleu—who formerly headed the NSS’s Internal Security Bureau—in his place.
