Riek Machar

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Riek Machar Teny (born 1952), a Dok Nuer, is the current vice-president of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan.^[1]

Biography

Riek Machar was one of the earliest members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA/M) under John Garang (1984).^[2] He split from (SPLA/M) in 1991 with Lam Akol and Gordon Kong Chuol to form SPLA-Nasir (1991-1993), later SPLA-United (1993-94), with the intent of overthrowing leader John Garang.

Riek signed the Khartoum Peace Agreement in 1997, forcing the National Islamic Front to adopt a democratic constitution. The agreement was a "soft landing" for Riek and his team who decided to join the Islamists in Khartoum.^[3] After the signing, he was the leader of South Sudan Defense Forces (SSDF, the newly re-named SSIM) (1997-2002) The Khartoum Peace Agreement offered the South self-determination on paper and made Machar the Assistant to the President of the Republic of the Sudan and the President of the Southern Sudan Coordinating Council (August 7, 1997 - January 31, 2000). The SSDF soon splintered into factions led by Machar and Paulino Matip. In January 2002, Machar defected back to Garang's SPLA/M and became number three in its hierarchy, leaving Matip in control of the SSDF. After the death of Garang (at which point Machar became vice-president of Southern Sudan), Matip's SSDF settled its differences with the new SPLA/M leadership and merged its forces into that organisation in January 2006 under the Juba Declaration.

The 1991 Bor Massacre

On November 15, 1991 the event known as the “Bor Massacre” commenced in Southern Sudan. Forces led by the breakaway faction of Riek Machar deliberately killed an estimated 85,000 civilians in Bor and wounded relatively the same number in the course of two months. Famine followed the massacre, as Machar's forces had looted and burnt villages and as well as raiding cattle. An estimated 25,000 more people died as a result of hunger, according to Amnesty International. The Bor massacre was triggered by a coup declaration against the then SPLM chairman, the late Dr. John Garang on August 28, 1991, by the current vice president of the government of Southern Sudan, Dr. Riek Machar. Thousands of civilians in the Bor area died when Dr. Riek's Nuer forces turned against them and killed them after his failure to topple Dr. John Garang. Some people had perished in the Bor areas as determined by the United Nations assessment of causalities in 1992.

Dr. Riek described the incident as "propaganda" and "myth" despite horrific evidence of mass killing shown by bones and corpses in the aftermath of the massacre.^{[citation needed]}

In his own word recorded in the video, "Sudan Massacre" posted on You Tube, he said that "most of Garang's troops are wiped out in Bor." This is ironic and self implicating because it was the civilians who were wiped out in Bor. Garang's troops which he claimed to have been wiped out in Bor were in deployment in Juba trying to capture the city from the Islamic government. Dr. Riek was also quoted as saying (Sudan Massacre, You Tube) that "I cannot just say kill the Dinka Bor, no, not at all. They're using it as a human rights violation; I'm aware of that. I think it is propaganda."

Apart from Riek himself denying the massacre despite evidence recorded in the media and video tapes, his associates have also attempted to hide the truth, waging a massive propaganda campaign.^{[citation needed]}

References

Further reading

• Douglas H. Johnson (2003) The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars (African Issues), Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-21584-6
• Deborah Scroggins (2004) Emma's War Vintage Books USA - Academi, ISBN 0-375-70377-2
• Maggie McCune (1999) Till The Sun Grows Cold Headline Book Publishing Ltd, ISBN 0-7472-7539-4

Links

• South Sudan: A history of political domination: A case of self-determination by Riek Machar
• Oil caused realignment of Southern rebel forces and escalation of war, late 1999 by Human Rights Watch