VZCZCXRO8040
OO RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0715/01 1530658
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 020658Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3899
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 000715 
 
DEPT FOR SE GRATION, S/USSES, AF A/S CARSON, AF/E 
NSC FOR MGAVIN 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR ECON SOCI ASEC KPKO AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT OF SOUTHERN SUDAN CABINET RESHUFFLE 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  President Kiir has changed ten of the 24 
positions in the Government of Southern Sudan's (GoSS) Council of 
Ministers.  Most notably, SPLA Chief of Staff Oyai Deng has been 
named Minister of Regional Cooperation and Kuol Athian Mawein was 
dismissed as Finance Minister, the third such change at Finance in 
the past three years.  The shifts appear aimed at responding to the 
multiple challenges now confronting the GoSS.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) President Salva Kiir Mayardit shuffled the GoSS cabinet on 
May 31, replacing or transferring ten out of 24 members of the 
Council of Ministers.  Four of these individuals (Finance Minister 
Kuol Athian Mawein, Rural Development Minister Phillip Yona Jambi, 
Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs Minister Mary Kidden 
Kimbo, and Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Albino Akol Akol) have 
departed the government.  The remaining six were transferred to 
different portfolios within the Council of Ministers. 
 
¶3. (U) The newly-appointed Ministers are: 
 
Minister of Internal Affairs - Gier Chuang Aluang (transferred from 
the Ministry of Telecommunications and Post, replacing Paul Mayom 
Akec) 
 
Minister of Finance and Economic Planning - David Deng Athorbei 
(from Transport and Roads, replacing Kuol Athian Mawien) 
 
Minister of Regional Cooperation - Gen. Oyai Deng Ajak (formerly 
Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) General Staff, 
replacing Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin) 
 
Minister of Transport and Roads - Anthony Lino Makana (from Commerce 
and Industry, replacing David Deng Athorbei) 
 
Minister of Commerce and Industry - Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin 
(from Regional Cooperation, replacing Anthony Lino Makana) 
 
Minister for Cooperatives and Rural Development - Peter 
Abdel-Rahaman Sule (new to the cabinet from Sudan's National 
Assembly, replacing Prof. Phillip Yona Jambi) 
 
Minister of Information and Broadcasting - Paul Mayom Akec (from 
Ministry of Internal Affairs, replacing Gabriel Changson Chang) 
 
Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services - Madut Biar (new 
to cabinet, replacing Gier Chuang Aluong) 
 
Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports - Gabriel Changson Chang (from 
Information and Broadcasting, replacing Albino Akol Akol) 
 
In addition, no replacement has been announced so far for Minister 
of Gender, Social Welfare and Religious Affairs Mary Kidden Kimbo. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The most noteworthy and surprising change is the 
appointment of SPLA Chief of Staff General Oyai Deng Ajak as 
Minister of Regional Cooperation (the de facto GoSS Foreign 
Ministry), replacing Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin, who was 
transferred to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.  On June 1, 
President Kiir named SPLA Chief of Operations Major General James 
Hoth as Oyai's successor as Chief of Staff.  Also significant is the 
dismissal from the government of Finance and Planning Minister Kuol 
Athian Mawien, and the appointment of Gier Chuang Aluong as Minister 
of Internal Affairs, in place of Paul Mayom Akec, who was moved to 
the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.  The removal of Mawein as 
the GoSS faces continued, severe budgetary challenges, means that 
southern Sudan will have had four different Finance Ministers within 
three years. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In addition to Oyai Deng, Peter Abdel-Rahama Sule as 
Minister of Cooperatives and Rural Development, and Madut Biar as 
Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services are new to the 
cabinet.  Sule is a member of the United Democratic Front, (UDF) and 
had been the leader of the southern opposition in Sudan's National 
Assembly.  Madut Biar is an SPLA commander who previously had served 
as governor of Northern Bahr al Ghazal state.  With the appointment 
of Sule, the departure of opposition party-members Jambi (UDF) and 
Akol Akol (United Democratic Southern Front), and Mary Kidden's 
position temporarily vacant, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, 
at least for the present time,   will have one more position in the 
cabinet than previously.  This will push the SPLM above the 70 
percent share of cabinet positions set in the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement, unless Mary Kidden's successor is from the southern 
opposition. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The restructured cabinet appears to be a 
response to the multiple challenges the GoSS is currently facing. 
 
KHARTOUM 00000715  002 OF 002 
 
 
Gier Chuang Aluang, an experienced military commander with a 
hard-line reputation, replaces Paul Mayom, an attorney, at the 
Internal Affairs Ministry.  This change comes at a time when 
southern Sudan is beset by escalating tribal violence and 
lawlessness (an estimated 1000 people have died in tribal fighting 
in Jonglei state in recent months.)  David Deng replaces the 
ineffective Kuol Mawien at Finance as the GoSS wrestles with 
depressed revenues on top of undisciplined spending and rampant 
corruption.  The need to fill the Chief of Staff slot with the 
departure of Oyai Deng provides President Kiir with the opportunity 
to further restructure personnel in the top ranks of the SPLA.  A 
second wave of GoSS reshuffling is expected to follow at the 
under-secretary (i.e., deputy ministerial) level and within a 
handful of state cabinets as well. 
 
WHITEHEAD