The Jikany Nuer are a section of the Nuer people who mainly live in the eastern part of Upper Nile state in South Sudan, particularly around Nasir in Nasir County. [1]
During the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005), between 1993 and 2004 the Lou Nuer and Jikany Nuer of Nasir County were in violent conflict. After that time, relations between the two groups were calmer until 2009, when they deteriorated sharply. [1]
Gordon Kong Chuol belongs to the Jikany Nuer and comes from Nasir. He became a militia leader of Thourjikany Forces, and a major-general in Anya Nya II in 1988. [2] He then became a commander and a member of the political and military high command of the SPLM/A. [3] In August 1991 Riek Machar, Lam Akol and Gordon Kong announced that John Garang had been ejected from the SPLM. [2] The breakaway faction, based in Nasir until 1995 and then in Waat and Ayod, was called the SPLM/A-Nasir faction from 1991 to 1993. [4]
In the first part of 1994, Gordon Kong became involved in a quarrel between Lou Nuer from Waat and Jikany Nuer in Nasir over fishing rights in the Sobat River. As commander of Waat and Nasir, Gordon Kong was ordered by Riek Machar to defend Nasir. Instead Gordon Kong left Nasir and launched an attack on Lou civilians. In response, the Lou called in Gordon Kong Banypiny for help, and he led a force of Lou men to Nasir, which they burned. Riek Machar arrested the commanders who had become involved in this fighting between SSIA sections and put them up for trial. Some were sentenced to imprisonment and others to death. Later they were pardoned. [5]
Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in August 1991, it gradually became coopted by the government. The break away of Riek Machar from SPLM/A resulted in Nuer ethnic group massacring Garang's ethnic Dinka from Bor in the Bor massacre in 1991. This split resulted in the 1994 National Convention of New Sudan in Chukudum.
Doleib Hill was a mission station established by the American Inland Mission in southern Sudan, located approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Malakal, on the northern bank of the Sobat River, then in the former Upper Nile province of Sudan, the present day Upper Nile state of South Sudan.
William Nyuon Bany was a Southern Sudanese politician who was also one of the founders of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). He was appointed third in command after John Garang and Kerubino Kuanyin Bol. While he worked as a commander of the SPLA he lived in Itang, a small Ethiopian town in the Gambela Region. In September 1992 he defected from the SPLA to join another faction under Riek Machar, but he rejoined the SPLA before he was assassinated on 13 January 1996.
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War, led by John Garang. After Garang's death in 2005, Salva Kiir was named the SPLA's new Commander-in-Chief. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers.
Taban Deng Gai is a South Sudanese politician who has been one of the Vice Presidents of South Sudan in the unity government since February 2020. He served as the First Vice President of South Sudan from 23 July 2016 to February 2020. He was mining minister before being appointed as acting first vice president.
Gordon Kong Chuol is a former militia commander in South Sudan, who fought for the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and later for the forces led by Riek Machar during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Mayom is a community in Unity State of South Sudan to the west of Bentiu. It is the headquarters of Mayom County.
Kerubino Kuanyin Bol was one of the founders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and one of the leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). He was said to have fired the first shot in that conflict, which flared up when the Khartoum government of Sudan imposed Islamic law, or Sharia, across the whole country, including the southern region which in 2011 became the Republic of South Sudan. The people in this region mainly follow the Christianity and/or a traditional animist religion.
Yohannes Yual Both was a leader of the South Sudan Defense Forces whose mobile forces gave the Sudan People's Liberation Army considerable difficulty during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).
Tito Biel Chuor was a high-ranking commander in the South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF) during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005).
The Khartoum Peace Agreement of 1997 was an agreement made on 21 April 1997 between the Khartoum-based government of Sudan and various militia leaders from South Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005). The agreement formalized principles that had been agreed in a political charter signed in Khartoum on 10 April 1996.
Fangak is a community in South Sudan. It lies in Fangak County in Jonglei state. The capital is Old Fanguk. It was once a British garrison town. The administration buildings were destroyed during the civil war.
Block 5A is an oil concession in South Sudan. After oil field development began during the Second Sudanese Civil War, Block 5A was the scene of extensive fighting as rival militias struggled for control. Out of an original population of 240,000, an estimated 12,000 were killed or died of starvation and 160,000 were displaced by force. Production started in 2006. There is evidence that the environmentally sensitive marshlands beside the Nile are becoming polluted.
Koch is a community in Unity State, South Sudan, headquarters of Koch County.
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 Small Arms Survey, it arose from the 1991 schism within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) for the dual purpose of defending Nuer cattle herds from neighbouring groups and fighting in the Second Sudanese Civil War between the SPLM/A and the Sudanese government.
The Sudan People's Defense Forces/Democratic Front (SPDF) was an anti-government militia active in Upper Nile from 2000 to 2002.
Riek Gai Kok is a South Sudanese politician. He is a Lou Nuer, hailing from Chieng Man-nyang/Diang-nyang Akoba. A veteran politician, he has been a member of parliament in both Sudan and South Sudan. As of 2013, he served as Minister of Health of South Sudan.
Peter Par Jiek was a brigadier general of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and veteran of the Second Sudanese Civil War. In the course of that conflict, Par fought under Riek Machar with several rebel and pro-government groups, and eventually became a powerful militia commander in Unity State. In that region, he established his own fiefdom and gained some notoriety for his rivalry with another rebel leader, Peter Gadet. Even though he had followed Machar during the whole Second Sudanese Civil War until 2005, Par sided with President Salva Kiir Mayardit upon the outbreak of the South Sudanese Civil War in 2013. Leading pro-government counter-insurgency forces in Wau State since 2014, Par was eventually ambushed and killed by SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Machar in 2017.
The War of the Peters was a conflict primarily fought between the forces of Peter Par Jiek and Peter Gadet from June 2000 to August 2001 in Unity State, Sudan. Though both were leaders of local branches of larger rebel groups that were involved in the Second Sudanese Civil War, the confrontation between the two commanders was essentially a private war. As Par and Gadet battled each other, the Sudanese government exploited the inter-rebel conflict as part of a divide and rule strategy, aimed at weakening the rebellion at large and allowing for the extraction of valuable oil in Unity State. In the end, Gadet and Par reconciled when their respective superiors agreed to merge the SPDF and SPLA.
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