South Sudan's governor dismissed after ethnic militia clashes

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has removed the governor of Upper Nile state amid rising violence. This region has seen clashes between government forces and an ethnic militia known as the White Army. Kiir accuses the militia of supporting his rival, First Vice President Riek Machar. The conflict intensified when the White Army drove government troops from the town of Nasir, located near the Ethiopian border. Following this, Kiir's government detained several officials from Machar's party, the SPLM-IO, including the petroleum minister and a senior army official. In a televised decree on Wednesday, Kiir dismissed the governor, James Odhok Oyay, who is affiliated with SPLM-IO. He replaced Oyay with James Koang Chuol, a lieutenant general from Nasir. This decision angered Machar's party. They claim it violates the 2018 peace agreement that ended a previous civil war. Machar's spokesperson criticized the action as a unilateral move and a threat to peace. In contrast, Information Minister Michael Makuei said the government aims to restore stability in Upper Nile state. The SPLM-IO denies the government's claims of their links to the White Army. The fighting in the region has already displaced around 50,000 people since late February. The United Nations has warned that South Sudan is close to falling back into civil war, just seven years after the last conflict ended.