Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (abbreviated SPLM-IO), 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.[3][4]

Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition
AbbreviationSPLM-IO
LeaderRiek Machar
Chief of General StaffsSimon Gatwech Dual
Secretary-generalTingo Peter Regbigo[1]
Founded2013
Split fromSudan People's Liberation Movement
HeadquartersPagak (until 2017)
Juba (2019–)[2]
National Legislative Assembly
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Party flag
Website
https://twitter.com/SPLMIO_Viva

The party and militia are led by Riek Machar.[5][6] Machar also appointed General Simon Gatwech Dual as Army Chief of General Staff, deputized by DCoGS for operations, training, political and moral orientation, logistics, administration and finance.[7]

Etymology

During the Nasir convention in April 2014, the rebels in the South Sudanese Civil War were split on whether to maintain an affiliation with the ruling SPLM 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 to defer a final decision. The group decided on the provisional name SPLM-SPLA.[8] Shortly after the meeting, however, the media began to call the group the SPLM-in-Opposition, due to its opposition to the governing SPLM party.

Politics

By May 2018, the SPLM/A-IO had set up a "parallel bush government" in Upper Nile, rivaling the government in Juba. People in rebel-held areas did no longer accept South Sudanese currency which had lost its worth due to hyperinflation, and instead used United States dollars and Ethiopian birr.[9]

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 ethnic group as leader Riek Machar.

In 2018, South Sudanese writer Duop Chak Wuol questioned the 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.[10][11]

Armed wing
SPLA-IO soldiers in April 2016.

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 (SPLA), alongside the private armies of rebel warlords 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.[12] Despite attempts by Machar to attract other ethnic groups to his cause, the SPLA-IO is dominated by Nuer people.[13] Parts of the SPLA-IO are known to recruit child soldiers.[14]

For weapons to fight the South Sudanese civil war, 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.[15] A rare exception was the Franco-Polish arms dealer Pierre Dadak who was arrested on 14 July 2016 at his villa in Ibiza.[15] 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.[15]

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. Riek Machar created the following structure:[16]

Simon Gatwich as chief of general staff with the following deputies:

  • Maj. Gen. Peter Gadet Yak, 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:

See also

References
  1. Young (2017), p. 38.
  2. "SPLM-IO to relocate headquarters to Juba". September 12, 2019.
  3. Niels Kastfelt, Religion and African Civil Wars, page 28.
  4. https://twitter.com/SPLMIO_Viva/status/1228922622106329088/photo/1
  5. "S. Sudanese army abandons positions in Jonglei: rebel spokesperson - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan". Sudan Tribune. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  6. "South Sudan opposition head Riek Machar denies coup bid". BBC News. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 2016-07-24.
  7. Cusack, Robert. "South Sudan rebels capture oil workers following $500mn contract". alaraby. Retrieved 2017-05-29.
  8. Young, John. "A Fractious Rebellion: Inside the SPLM-IO" (PDF). p. 43.
  9. Martell 2018, p. 271.
  10. Opinion: SPLM-IO's flawed peace strategy
  11. SPLM-IO's flawed peace strategy
  12. John Young (September 2015). "The SPLM-in-Opposition". Small Arms Survey. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  13. Young (2017), pp. 36–40.
  14. Jason Patinkin (15 May 2018). "Ceasefire monitors accuse South Sudan forces, rebels of civilian killings". Reuters. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  15. Martell 2018, p. 235.
  16. Young, John. "A Fractious Rebellion: Inside the SPLM-IO" (PDF). p. 46.

Works Cited
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