JUBA: The president of South Sudan has dismissed his interior minister, the wife of a detained opposition leader with whom he was running a unity government following a peace agreement that ended a five-year civil war.
President Salva Kiir on Monday evening removed Interior Minister Angelina Teny, a senior opposition figure and the wife of detained First Vice President Riek Machar. No reasons were given for the dismissal.
Kiir replaced her with Aleu Ayieny Aleu, a veteran loyalist who previously served as interior minister from 2013 to 2015.
The move further weakens the 2018 peace agreement, which allocated the Interior Ministry to the opposition under a power-sharing arrangement.
The opposition accused Kiir of undermining the power-sharing framework.
Machar, a former rebel leader who joined the unity government in 2020 following the peace agreement, remains in detention with several associates, facing treason charges linked to violence in Nasir in Upper Nile state.
Forces loyal to Machar, alongside allied White Army fighters, have made gains against government forces in Jonglei state. They recently captured Pajut, a strategic town in Duk County on the main road to Bor, the state capital, heightening fears of a broader offensive. The government has deployed reinforcements in an attempt to secure Bor.
Clashes have also flared in recent weeks in Unity, Upper Nile, and parts of Central and Eastern Equatoria states, alarming regional and international observers who warn of a wider escalation and the unraveling of fragile security arrangements. Key provisions of the 2018 peace deal — including security sector reforms and the unification of forces — remain unimplemented.
Teny had headed the ministry since a reshuffle in March 2023, when Kiir transferred her from the defense portfolio and assumed control of the defense ministry himself.
She has been largely absent from the Interior Ministry since March 2025, when Machar was placed under house arrest. In June 2025, security agents reportedly confiscated her phone, laptop and a modem.
Pal Mai Deng, spokesperson for the opposition, on Tuesday described Teny’s removal as “a clear sign of desperation” and said it reflected a government that is “crumbling under pressure” as the security situation deteriorates.
South Sudan president fires interior minister in a move threatening peace agreement
https://arab.news/nhy7v
South Sudan president fires interior minister in a move threatening peace agreement
- Kiir removed Interior Minister Angelina Teny, a senior opposition figure and the wife of detained First Vice President Riek Machar
- The opposition accused Kiir of undermining the power-sharing framework
TikTok finalizes deal to form new American entity
TikTok has finalized a deal to create a new American entity, avoiding the looming threat of a ban in the United States that has been in discussion for years.
The social video platform company signed agreements with major investors including Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX to form the new TikTok US joint venture. The new version will operate under “defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation and software assurances for US users,” the company said in a statement Thursday. American TikTok users can continue using the same app.
Adam Presser, who previously worked as TikTok’s head of operations and trust and safety, will lead the new venture as its CEO. He will work alongside a seven-member, majority-American board of directors that includes TikTok’s CEO Shou Chew.
The deal marks the end of years of uncertainty about the fate of the popular video-sharing platform in the United States. After wide bipartisan majorities in Congress passed — and President Joe Biden signed — a law that would ban TikTok in the US if it did not find a new owner in the place of China’s ByteDance, the platform was set to go dark on the law’s January 2025 deadline. For a several hours, it did. But on his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep it running while his administration sought an agreement for the sale of the company.
In addition to an emphasis on data protection, with US user data being stored locally in a system run by Oracle, the joint venture will also focus on TikTok’s algorithm. The content recommendation formula, which feeds users specific videos tailored to their preferences and interests, will be retrained, tested and updated on US user data, the company said in its announcement.
Oracle, Silver Lake and the Emirati investment firm MGX are the three managing investors, who each hold a 15 percent share. Other investors include the investment firm of Michael Dell, the billionaire founder of Dell Technologies. ByteDance retains 19.9 percent of the joint venture.
