07/27/2013 21:13 GMT
JUBA, July 27, 2013 (AFP) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir on Saturday started his new cabinet announcement by naming the man he last week sacked as information minister as the new foreign minister, state radio said.
"President Salva Kiir has issued a decree appointing Dr. Barnaba Marial Benjamin minister of foreign affairs ..." the radio said, adding that the appointment takes effect immediately.
Kiir, the leader of the world's newest nation, on Tuesday fired his vice president Riek Machar as well as all 28 cabinet ministers and their deputies as he announced that his next government would consist of only 19 ministries.
Many of the sacked ministers were key figures in the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement or its armed wing that fought a brutal 1983-2005 war against the government of Sudan, which led to a 2011 referendum in which South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to split from the north and form a new nation.
Marial replaces Nhial Deng Nhial, for whom no new post has so far been announced.
The radio gave no indication as to when further appointments will be made public.
US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with Kiir on Friday and urged him to form a government reflecting the diversity of his country's people "quickly and transparently" the State Department said.
Kerry's remarks echoed recommendations made in a joint statement from the African Union, Canada, Norway, Switzerland, Britain and the United States.
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