The South Sudan President Salva Kiir on Thursday introduced his favorite successor, vice president Dr. Benjamin Bol Mel to the visiting Ugandan leader, Yoweri Museveni.
Museveni, who is the first Head of State to visit Juba since the deterioration of the security situation early last month, arrived in Juba on the same day in an effort to deescalate tension in the war prone northern neighbor.
Museveni and his delegation, including the Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs, Jacob Oboth Oboth; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Malimba John; Senior Presidential Advisor on Defence and Security, Gen. Proscovia Nalweyiso; Ugandan Ambassador to South Sudan, Brig. Ronnie Balya and others were first ushered into a closed door meeting.
In the closed door meeting, Kiir had his Ministers of Presidential Affairs, Chol Mawut Ajongo; Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ramadan Muhammed Abdalla; Defense and Veteran Affairs, Chol Thon Balok and others.
Though he didn’t attend the closed door meeting, the wealthy Bol Mel was later introduced to Museveni by Kiir.
A son-in-law to Kiir, Bol Mel was appointed to the powerful position of vice president on February 10, 2025, replacing the SPLM veteran politician, Wani Iga.
He has also been made the head of the economic cluster by the father-in-law. He has been a principal financial advisor to Kiir for years.
His appointment is widely viewed as a move to succeed the aging and continuously physically frail Kiir.
The retiring of SPLM historicals like Wani Iga and the purge on SPLA-IO under Dr. Riek Machar has been seen as moves to pave the way for Bol Mel.
South Sudan is supposed to hold a presidential and parliamentary election as per the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) that ushered in the current Transitional Government of national unity.
Thursday marked the second time when Bol Mel was put in close proximity with President Museveni, a key player in South Sudan Affairs.
On March 15, 2023, Kiir sent Bol Mel to Museveni to deliver a special message.
Museveni has been a long-time ally of Kiir and a key player in regional peace processes, including the 2018 agreement that ended South Sudan’s brutal civil war.
However, Uganda’s recent troop deployments have drawn criticism from opposition figures and sparked accusations of partiality in the country’s internal political affairs.
Uganda has historically played a major role in South Sudanese affairs, both as a military backer of the Juba government and a regional mediator. UPDF forces have intervened in South Sudanese conflicts before, including during the 2013–2016 civil war.
Bol Mel was sanctioned by the United States government on December 21, 2
