Salva Kiir Mayardit

Salva Kiir Mayardit
Kiir in 2014
1st President of South Sudan
Assumed office
9 July 2011
Vice PresidentRiek Machar
James Wani Igga
Taban Deng Gai
Hussein Abdelbagi
Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior
Preceded byPosition established
President of Southern Sudan
In office
30 July 2005 – 9 July 2011
Acting: 30 July 2005 – 11 August 2005
Vice PresidentRiek Machar Teny
Preceded byJohn Garang
Succeeded byPosition abolished
First Vice President of Sudan
In office
11 August 2005 – 9 July 2011
PresidentOmar al-Bashir
Preceded byJohn Garang
Succeeded byAli Osman Taha
Vice President of Southern Sudan
In office
9 July 2005 – 11 August 2005
PresidentJohn Garang
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byRiek Machar Teny
Personal details
Born (1951-09-13) 13 September 1951 (age 73)
Akon, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan
Political partySudan People's Liberation Movement
Spouse(s)Mary Ayen Mayardit
Aluel William Nyuon Bany[1][2]
Military service
AllegianceSouth Sudan
CommandsCommander-in-Chief of the South Sudan People's Defence Forces
South Sudan People's Defence Force
Anyanya Battalion
Battles/warsFirst Sudanese Civil War
Second Sudanese Civil War
 • Operation Thunderbolt
South Sudanese Civil War

Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951),[3] also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as First Vice President of Sudan, from 2005 to 2011. He was named Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2005, following the death of John Garang.[4]

Kiir was born to the Dinka ethnic group and joined Anyanya rebels fighting for Southern independence during the First Sudanese Civil War in the late 1960s. Following the outbreak of the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983, Kiir joined the new Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) rebel group led by John Garang as a member of its armed wing, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), eventually becoming the head of the SPLA. Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the South gained autonomy under the leadership of Garang in July 2005. Following Garang's death at the end of the month, Kiir became the new President of the Southern Autonomous region, as well as First Vice President of the central government. Kiir won re-election as President following the 2010 South Sudanese general election. The following year, South Sudan gained independence after the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum with Kiir as its inaugural President.

  1. ^ Sudan Tribune, Kenyan police arrest S. Sudan president's son over drunkenness
  2. ^ ""Our family life is private" Kiir's in-law says – Entertainment News". Archived from the original on 30 June 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Biography of H.E. Salva Kiir Mayardit". www.presidency.gov.ss. Archived from the original on 11 August 2021. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. ^ "Sudan: UN mourns death of Vice-President Garang". UN News. 1 August 2005. Retrieved 16 September 2022.