Kiir’s removal of Bol Mel, masked as an anti-corruption crusade, lays bare South Sudan’s enduring cycle of repression, deceit, and fear. Like the purge of Riek Machar that once reignited civil war, it signals a regime where loyalty eclipses law, and dissent is treated as treason. Each purge fractures the fragile peace, each trial widens the gulf between ruler and ruled. The nation drifts toward isolation, its institutions hollowed out, its hope for reconciliation fading under the weight of Kiir’s tightening grip on power.