South Sudan army chief dismissed after army losses

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked his army chief following the fall of a major oil hub to the hands of rebels led by the former vice president, Riek Machar.

The South Sudanese state TV on Wednesday announced the dismissal of General James Hoth Mai, and named his successor as General Paul Malong. The president gave no reason for removing Hoth Mai, but sources attributed the sacking to the army’s recent losses in the country’s oil-rich north. Last week, rebel forces seized Bentiu, the capital of the oil-producing Unity state, and engaged in two days of ethnic killing.

According to the United Nations, hundreds of civilians were massacred as the rebels hunted down civilians seeking refuge in mosques, churches and a hospital.

The UN said that the rebels used hate radio broadcasts to stir violent ethnic sentiments.

South Sudan plunged into violence in December 2013, when fighting erupted between troops loyal to President Kiir and defectors led by his sacked deputy, Machar, around the capital Juba.

The conflict soon turned into an all-out war between the army and defectors, with the violence taking on an ethnic dimension that pitted the president’s Dinka tribe against Machar’s Nuer ethnic group.

The two sides signed a ceasefire deal in January, but fighting rages on following renewed clashes targeting key oil fields.

The conflict has left thousands of South Sudanese dead and forced around a million people to flee their homes in the world’s youngest nation.

South Sudan gained independence in July 2011 after its people overwhelmingly voted in a referendum for a split from the North.