# Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet

Date: 2013

## The fact

In July 2013 President [Salva Kiir](/people/salva-kiir) dismissed Vice-President Riek Machar and the rest of the cabinet, reducing the size of government. Machar said the move was a step toward dictatorship and that he would challenge Kiir for the presidency.

## Context

Kiir had already dismissed senior officers earlier in 2013. Machar is unresolved.

July 2013 sackings; later 15 December fighting stored separately. Keep Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet on 2013-07-23 separate from neighbouring Kiir instruments.

The President of South Sudan is head of state and commander-in-chief. He can sack a vice-president, announce an election delay, and sign a constitutional amendment. He does not write UN Commission statements, AP dispatches, or IPC caseloads.

## Evidence and sources

The Guardian carries the official instrument or communique. BBC News records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is the owned oil-patronage driver: a completed removal of the principal rival from the executive.

## What is established and what is not

Established: He dismissed Machar and the cabinet in July 2013. Machar called it a step toward dictatorship.

Not established: A unique July death integer, or that Machar is a minted Person row.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Sharing later fighting with Machar is not a reason to drop July 2013.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet, not a later speech about Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet on 2013-07-23 is not a licence to treat every later The Guardian communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor instrument exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Kiir dismisses Vice-President Riek Machar and the cabinet into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He issued the dismissals. Sharing later fighting with Machar is not a reason to drop July 2013. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series.

## People

- Salva Kiir: https://factrail.ai/people/salva-kiir

## Drivers

- Kiir oil patronage rule: https://factrail.ai/drivers/kiir-oil-patronage-rule
- Capacity for Peaceful Transfer of Power: https://factrail.ai/drivers/capacity-for-peaceful-transfer-of-power

## Sources

- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23428557
- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/24/south-sudan-salva-kiir-sacks-cabinet

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/ss-kiir-sacks-machar-2013