John Garang de Mabior was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) after the Second Sudanese Civil War, the comprehensive peace agreement of 2005 was signed and he briefly served as First Vice President of Sudan for 3 weeks until his death in a helicopter crash on July 30, 2005. A developmental economist by profession, Garang was a major influence on the movement that led to the foundation of South Sudan.
The South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) is an armed group that operates in the Upper Nile Region of South Sudan. The group's creation was announced in November 1999 by people of the Nuer ethnicity who were in both the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the government-allied South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF) gathered in Waat. The SSLM was declared to be unaligned in the Second Sudanese Civil War, then entering its sixteenth year. The name "South Sudan Liberation Movement" was decided upon the next year, borrowing from the earlier Southern Sudan Liberation Movement, which existed in the 1980s.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, 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.
Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in 1983. On January 9, 2005 the SPLA, SPLM and Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the civil war. SPLM then obtained representation in the Government of Sudan, and was the main constituent of the Government of the then semi-autonomous Southern Sudan. When South Sudan became a sovereign state on 9 July 2011, SPLM became the ruling party of the new republic. SPLM branches in Sudan separated themselves from SPLM, forming the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North. Further factionalism appeared as a result of the 2013-2014 South Sudanese Civil War, with President Salva Kiir leading the SPLM-Juba and former Vice President Riek Machar leading the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.
The politics of South Sudan concern the system of government in the Republic of South Sudan, a country in East Africa, and the people, organizations, and events involved in it.
Paul Gatguat Gatluak Mut 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.
Peter Lam Both has been the Governor of Latjoor, South Sudan since 24 December 2015. Both is the first governor of the state, which was created by President Salva Kiir on 2 October 2015.
Peter Gatdet Yak 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.
Paulino Matip Nhial, or Matiep Nhial, was a military leader and politician in South Sudan.
Gatluak Gai was a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who rebelled after the April 2010 elections and led a renegade militia in the volatile Unity state of South Sudan.
Angelina Jany Teny is a South Sudanese politician who served as Minister of Defence since March 2020.
Telar Ring Deng was a South Sudanese politician and statesman. Telar died from Covid-19 related-complications on December 27, 2020 two days after announcing that he tested positive for Covid-19. At the time of his death Ambassador Telar was nominated to the Revitalized Transitional National Assembly by SPLM-IO, and was primed as the Minority Leader. This was after his appointment as minister was rejected. It is understood that President Kiir retracted his earlier position of allocating Lakes state to SPLM-IO after it became apparent to him that Dr. Riek had nominated Ambassador Telar for governorship. Telar was an Atout Dinka, hailing from Yirol. When the SPLA split, Telar sided with SPLA-Nasir. Together with Deng Ayuen Kurr, Telar was the most prominent Dinka leader in SPLA-Nasir. Telar and Deng accompanied Lam Akol during his two-month stay in Western Europe. However Telar and Deng left SPLA-Nasir after the Frankfurt talks, disappointed that separation had not been mentioned in the documents of the peace talks and the rapprochement between SPLA-Nasir and the Khartoum government. Telar and Deng returned to the mainstream faction of the SPLA/SPLM.
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 10 others of attempting a coup d'état. Machar denied trying to start a coup and fled to lead the SPLM – in opposition (SPLM-IO). Fighting broke out between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and SPLM-IO, igniting the civil war. Ugandan troops were deployed to fight alongside the South Sudanese government. The United Nations has peacekeepers in the country as part of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, also known as the anti-governmental forces (AGF), is a mainly South Sudanese political party and rebel group that split from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in 2013, due to political tensions between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar over leadership of the SPLM. Tensions grew between forces loyal to Kiir and Machar and South Sudan plunged into the South Sudanese Civil War.
Simon Gatwech Dual is a Sudanese rebel Major General who was born in around the late 1930s in what is today Uror County, Jonglei state, 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 Pagak offensive was a major military operation by the South Sudanese government during the South Sudanese Civil War with the aim of capturing the strategic town of Pagak and the wider Maiwut County from Riek Machar's SPLM-IO rebels. Since the civil war's beginning, Pagak had served as headquarters and stronghold for the rebels, and its loss was believed to possibly greatly weaken the insurgency. A large part of the government forces that took part in the offensive are members of the SPLM-IO, a break-away group from Machar's movement that is loyal to First Vice President Taban Deng Gai. Though pro-government forces managed to capture Pagak on 6 August, their attempts to secure the surrounding areas proved unsuccessful. As result, the SPLA-held corridor between Mathiang and Pagak remained unsafe.
This article lists events from the year 2020 in South Sudan
The Kitgwang Declaration was a coup by South Sudanese rebel commander Simon Gatwech Dual on August 4, 2021, in which he replaced First Vice President Riek Machar as leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition leading to a deadly rebel fighting Since 2014, Gatwech has been the military chief of staff of the SPLM/SPLA (IO) and has grown hostile against Machar since the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in 2018.
