The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (
abbreviated
An abbreviation (from Latin ''brevis'', meaning ''short'') is a shortened form of a word or phrase, by any method. It may consist of a group of letters or words taken from the full version of the word or phrase; for example, the word ''abbrevia ...
SPLM-IO), also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...
ese political party and rebel group that split from the
Sudan People's Liberation Movement
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
in 2013, due to political tensions between President
Salva Kiir
Salva (Latin for "Save") may refer to:
People
*Francisco Salva Campillo (1751-1828), Spanish scientist
* Ramon d'Salva (born 1921), Filipino actor
* Héctor Salva (1939-2015), Uruguayan football midfielder
*Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 1951), South ...
and Vice President
Riek Machar
Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
Political life
In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...
over leadership of the
SPLM
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
. Tensions grew between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar and South Sudan plunged into the
South Sudanese Civil War
The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. ...
.
The party and militia are led by Riek Machar. Machar also appointed
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
Simon Gatwech Dual
Simon Gatwech Dual (also spelled Simon Gatwitch) is a Sudanese rebel Major General who was born in around the late 1930s in what is today Uror County, Jonglei state, South Sudan.
Politics
He joined the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) ...
as Army Chief of General Staff, deputized by DCoGS for operations, training, political and moral orientation, logistics, administration and finance. But in June 2021, Machar removed General Gatwech Dual from the position and appointed him into the Presidency as an adviser. Gatwech however, rejected the new role and fired Machar as leader of the SPLM/A-IO and declared himself interim leader which led to fighting between Machar allies and those loyal to Gen. Gatwech formerly known as the Kit-Gwang faction throughout 2021.
Etymology
During the
Nasir
Nasir ( ar, ناصر, translit=Nāṣir) is a masculine given name, commonly found in Arabic which can mean "helper" or "one who gives victory" (grammatically the Stem I masculine singular active participle of consonantal verb root ''n-ṣ-r''). ...
convention in April 2014, the rebels in the
South Sudanese Civil War
The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. ...
were split on whether to maintain an affiliation with the ruling
SPLM
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
party. While Maj. Gen. Garouth Gatkuoth and many generals spoke against a SPLM affiliation,
Angelina Teny and much of the leadership were in favor, leading
Riek Machar
Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
Political life
In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...
to defer a final decision. The group decided on the provisional name SPLM-SPLA. Shortly after the meeting, however, the media began to call the group the SPLM-in-Opposition, due to its opposition to the governing
SPLM
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; ar, الحركة الشعبية لتحرير السودان, ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political w ...
party.
Politics
By May 2018, the SPLM/A-IO had set up a "parallel bush government" in Upper Nile, rivaling the government in
Juba
Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...
. People in rebel-held areas no longer accepted South Sudanese currency which had lost its worth due to hyperinflation, and instead used
United States dollar
The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
s and
Ethiopian birr
The birr ( am, ብር) is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. It is subdivided into 100 ''santim''.
In 1931, Emperor Haile Selassie I formally requested that the international community use the name ''Ethiopia'' (as it had already been known inte ...
.
The party's ideology (or in some cases, the lack thereof) is essentially identical to the original SPLM, and only differs in the fact that the split between the two was mostly along ethnic lines, with the SPLM-IO representing the same
Nuer Nuer may refer to:
* Nuer people
* Nuer language
The Nuer language (Thok Naath) ("people's language") is a Nilotic language of the Western Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Nuer people of South Sudan and in western Ethiopia (region of Gamb ...
ethnic group as leader Riek Machar.
In 2018, South Sudanese analyst Duop Chak Wuol questioned SPLM-IO's overall strategy, arguing that the movement's leadership pursued a political solution as part of its efforts to end the civil war without a good plan for its military wing.
Armed wing
![SPLA-IO soldiers (Juba - April 2016)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/SPLA-IO_soldiers_%28Juba_-_April_2016%29.jpg)
The military forces of the SPLM-IO are known as "Sudan People's Liberation Army-in-Opposition" (abbreviated "SPLA-IO") and consist of deserters from the
Sudan People's Liberation Army
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 198 ...
(SPLA), alongside the
private armies
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
of rebel
warlord
A warlord is a person who exercises military, economic, and political control over a region in a country without a strong national government; largely because of coercive control over the armed forces. Warlords have existed throughout much of h ...
s and tribal militias. Those elements of the South Sudanese military that joined the SPLA-IO have done so to protect tribal interests or felt marginalized by the government due to their previous membership in the
SSDF. Despite attempts by Machar to attract other ethnic groups to his cause, the SPLA-IO is dominated by
Nuer people
The Nuer people are a Nilotic ethnic group concentrated in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan. They also live in the Ethiopian region of Gambella. The Nuer speak the Nuer language, which belongs to the Nilotic language family. They ...
. Parts of the SPLA-IO are known to recruit
child soldiers
Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures.
Children in the military, includ ...
.
For weapons to fight the
South Sudanese civil war
The South Sudanese Civil War was a multi-sided civil war in South Sudan between forces of the government and opposition forces. In December 2013, President Kiir accused his former deputy Riek Machar and ten others of attempting a coup d'état. ...
, the SPLA-IO used a "shadowy" network of arms dealers, of which little is known other than that most of the gunrunners appeared to be European. A rare exception was the Franco-Polish arms dealer
Pierre Dadak Pierre Konrad Dadak (born 1976) is a Franco-Polish fraudster and confirmed arms dealer. He was convicted of fraud in France on 29 October 2010 and in Spain on 25 February 2022.
Early life
Dadak was born in Paris in 1976 to Polish immigrants. He h ...
who was arrested on 14 July 2016 at his villa in
Ibiza
Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...
. At his villa, the Spanish National Police Corps allege that they found documents showing he was negotiating to sell the SPLA-IO 40,000 AK-47 assault rifles, 30,000 PKM machine guns and 200, 000 boxes of ammunition.
In 2017 SPLA-IO lost the town of
Pagak on the
Ethiopian border during
a government offensive.
Organization
The SPLA-IO did not have a formal military structure until the Pagak I conference in December 2014, after a year of
war
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
.
Riek Machar
Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
Political life
In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...
created the following structure:
Simon Gatwich as chief of general staff with the following deputies:
* Maj. Gen.
Peter Gadet Yak
Peter Gatdet Yak (1958 – 15 April 2019) or Peter Gadet was a Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) general who became the leader of the South Sudan Liberation Army (SSLA), a rebel movement in South Sudan. Early life
He was born between 1957 and ...
, operations
* Maj. Gen. Garouth Gatkouth, logistics
* Maj. Gen. Dau Atujong, training
* Maj. Gen. Martin Kenyi, moral orientation
* Maj. Gen. Elias Juda Kulang, administration
* Maj. Gen. Moses Chot Riek, military production
* Maj. Gen. John Both Teny, general headquarters command
* Maj. Gen.
Gabriel Tang Gatwich Chan, inspector general.
Along with the following commands:
* Maj. Gen. James Khor Chuol,
Latjor Division 5
* Maj. Gen. Thomas Mabor Dhuo, Phou Division 7
* Maj. Gen. Peter Dor Manjur,
Bieh Division 8
* Maj. Gen. Maguek Gai Majak, Lich Division 4
* Maj. Gen. James Koang Chuol, 1st Special Division
* Maj. Gen. Martin Terento Kenyi,
Eastern Equatoria
Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km². The capital is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 Febru ...
* Maj. Gen. Salem El Haj,
Central Equatoria
Central Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. With an area of , it is the smallest of the original South Sudanese states. Its previous name was Bahr al-Jabal (also Bahr-el-Jebel), named after a tributary of the White Nile that flows through the s ...
* Col. Wesley Welba, Mid-
Western Equatoria
Western Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of . Its capital is Yambio. The state was divided into counties, each headed by a County Commissioner. Western Equatoria seceded from Sudan as part of the Republic of South Sudan on ...
* Maj. Gen. Dau Aturjong,
Northern Bahr el Ghazal
Northern Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 30,543 km² and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. It borders East Darfur in Sudan to the north, Western Bahr el Ghazal to the west and south, and Warrap and the dis ...
* Maj. Gen. Thomas Basilo Tindo,
Western Bahr el Ghazal
Western Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of and is the least populous state in South Sudan, according to the controversial Sudanese census conducted in 2008. It is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. Its capital is Wau. ...
See also
*
Nuer White Army
The Nuer White Army, sometimes decapitalised as the "white army", is a semi-official name for a militant organisation formed by the Nuer people of central and eastern Greater Upper Nile in modern-day South Sudan as early as 1991. According to the ...
*
Sudan People's Liberation Army
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 198 ...
External links
Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-OppositionDirector of Communications, Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition
References
Works cited
*
*
{{Authority control
Factions of the South Sudanese Civil War
Political parties established in 2013
Political parties in South Sudan
Rebel groups in South Sudan
2013 establishments in South Sudan