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PART 2,
1
RETURN TO
HISTORY
The Adura, Bukteng and Bilpam camps
Following the Bor Uprising many of the
leaders of various insurrections mentioned earlier started moving
toward Ethiopia. The First to arrive were two of the leaders of the
National Action Movement (NAM), Samuel Gai Tut and Akuot Atem de
Mayen who made Bukteng Village there command post.
On arrival on the borders with
Ethiopia, the two leaders contacted Gordon Kaong Chol, the leader of
the Anya Nya Two Movement at his Command Head Quarters at Bilpam. It
is to be recalled that Anya Nya Two was founded in 1977 by Vincent
Kuany and James Bol Alangjok, the leaders of the failed Any Nya
absorbed forces uprising in Akobo in 1975.
Gai and Akuot instead of waiting for
the various rebels groups that had already started moving to
Ethiopia after which they would launch one united movement
apparently after reaching consensus, put a proposal that, Gordon
Kaong would be the leader of the military wing and (they) Gai and
Akuot would lead the political wing of the Movement about to be
launched. Apparently Kaong may have been aware of the coming of John
Garang group that has been in touch with him for a long time turned
down the proposal. By the end of May the Ethiopian authorities have
cited the Sudanese rebel Colonel John Garang de Mabior and his group
and located them to a village called Adura.
Sooner than later the news about the
outbreak of war in the south attracted hundreds of thousands of
Southern Sudanese who began in earnest pouring into Western Ethiopia
in order to join the revolution that was being launched. These
refugees went to one of the three refugee main camps according to
their choices.
The three main camps were Bilpam under
Gordon Kaong Chol, Bukteng under Samuel Gai Tut and Akuot Atem and
Adura Camp under John Garang de Mabior, Joseph Oduho, Martin Majer
Gai and others.
It is to be noted that Gambela Region
is inhabited by the people of Southern Sudanese origins, Gajaak and
Gajok Nuer and the Anyuak.
Early in June Lt Colonel Francis,
Captain Salva Kiir Mayardit arrived and joined the Adura Camp. It is
to be remembered that following the uprising in Bor, Ayod, Waat,
Pibor, Fosalla and Akobo, Francis and Salva had attempted to take
over Malakal and failing to do so left for Ethiopia where they were
directed to their colleagues in the Underground revolution.
Sometime later two leaders of the Abyei
Liberation Front; Deng Alor Kuol and Chol Deng Alaak arrived. They
too were directed by the Ethiopian authorities to the Adura Camp.
The Third Group that joined the Adura
Camp was the Student Revolutionary Group headed by Pagan Amum Okiech,
Nyachigag Nyachiluk and Lado Lokurnyang and Oyai Deng Ajak. Finally
the leaders of the battalions 105, 104 that revolted in Bor, Ayod,
Pachalla, Pibor and Waat led by Kerubino Kuanyin Bol and William
Nyuon Bany arrived in Ethiopia. They too joined the Adura Camp.
The formation of the SPLM/SPLA and the
leadership question
Following the arrival of hundreds of refugees, it was time for the
leadership to meet and decide first the question of who would lead a
united movement. This was very necessary because they should meet
the Ethiopian authorities as one group in order to seek political
and financial support. Importantly they would need logistics for
effective launch of the Movement.
But before various groups could meet to
elect the leader of the group, Akuot Atem, after receiving reports
that the Ethiopian authorities were already in contact with Colonel
John Garang and suspicious that the Ethiopians may impose Garang on
the refugees as the leader suggested that a government be formed
before meeting the Ethiopian authorities. Despite the fact that most
of the people thought that it was not yet time to do so, Akuot
assuming that he had the majority of the refugees went ahead and
formed his cabinet. He made himself Chairman, his friend Samuel Gai
Tut Minister of Defense, Joseph Oduho Foreign Affairs; Martin Majier,
Legal Affairs and Justice and John Garang Chief of Staff. In order
to meet the Ethiopian authorities to enable them launch their
Movement and despite sensitivities already expressed by Akuot Atem
behaviour, the Sudanese met and a delegation headed by Akuot Atem de
Mayen was formed and in the membership of Joseph Oduho, Colonel Dr
John Garang de Mabior, Samuel Gai Tut and Captain Salva Kiir Mayadit.
The meeting was then arranged in order to meet the Ethiopian Chief
of Staff General Mesfin who would subsequently arrang for the group
to meet Chairman Megistu Haile Mariam to sanction the launch of the
Movement.
General Mesfin asked the group to write
its manifesto as a precondition of meeting Mengistu. The group came
back and Chairman Akuot Atem was asked to write the position paper
which he did. Akuot's paper contained the following conditions: That
the Movement was a socialist oriented Movement fighting for the
total liberation of the Southern Sudan. When Akuot paper was
presented to General Mesfin it was turned down. The group was told
in no uncertain term that the Socialist Ethiopia would never favour
the breakup of a sisterly state as stipulated in the African Unity
Charter. The Group went back to the main refugee camp of Itang
dumfounded and unable to comprehend what the Ethiopian wanted them
to do as a precondition for soliciting support from her. The most
elderly Joseph Oduho made special appeal to Colonel John Garang to
write a position paper that would be acceptable to the Ethiopian
authorities. Colonel Garang accepted and wrote the paper that later
became the SPLM Manifesto.
Garang paper stated that the Sudanese
Movement about to be launched should fight for the creation of a
socialist oriented united secular Sudan and that all the scattered
rebel forces including the Anya Nya Two be grouped to gather in
order to start the liberation struggle of the whole country.
When this document was presented to
Chairman Mengistu it was accepted and the Sudanese were asked to
launch their Movement. Thus the name of the Movement was to be
called the Sudan's People Liberation Movement and Liberation Army
SPLM/SPLA. And John Garang as the Chief of Staff for the Movement
about to be launched, was asked to remain behind to in order to work
out logistics requirements before the official launch was
inaugurated. But when the group arrived back at Itang Refugee Camp
an incident happened that upset the smooth launching of one movement
and which would lead to the start of the beginning of the war as two
movements instead of one.
The incident was that, Colonel Kerubino
Kuanyin Bol has just shot dead a refugee by name Marial Alek,
allegedly for insubordination and impudence to his most senior
commander. The death of this innocent refugee set the refugee camp
ablaze and would have spread into seemingly sectional violence. On
hearing of this incident in the refugee main camp, the Ethiopian
Security acted fast and sent a force in order to maintain law and
order there. Chairman Akuot Atem, already suspicious that the
Ethiopians' request to keep Colonel Garang behind to solicit
logistics requirement told his supporters that the coming of the
Ethiopian security personnel to the camp was an attempt to impose
John Garang on them as an absolute leader of the new movement to be
launched. As if that was what he wanted; Akuot Atem ordered his
supporters to collect their belongings and moved back to the Sudan
where they would launch the People's Revolution for the liberation
of the Southern Sudan there. Thus all and sundry in the Bukteng Camp
and some from the Itang Camp moved to Bilpam Camp to join Gordon
Kaong soldiers.
To make things worst, Lt Colonel
William Nyuon Bany who had just arrived with his forces from Ayod,
attacked Bilpam and dislodged both Gordon Kaong and Akuot Atem
groups from Bilpam. After some skirmishes with William Nyuon Bany
forces, Gordon Kaong and his forces followed Akuot and Gai forces to
Bukteng Camp inside the Sudan border. They remained there till they
later launched an alternative Movement they would also call SPLM/SPLA.
The rest of the Anya Nya Two and those who disagreed with Akuot Atem
and Samuel Gai Tut went to Itang where they joined John Garang de
Mabior Group. It was against this background that John Garang de
Mabior was elected by the group that remained loyal to him in Itang
in August 1983, as Chairman of SPLM and Commander in Chief of the
SPLA. Immediately the following were appointed members of the top
leadership of the Movement called the Politico-Military High
Command:
1. Colonel Dr John Grang de Mabior
Chairman and Commander in Chief of SPLA
2. Major Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, promoted
to Lt. Colonel was appointed Deputy Chairman and Deputy Commander In
Chief so as to bring him nearer to Colonel John Garang in military
hierarchy.
3. Major William Nyuon Bany was
promoted to Lt. Colonel and appointed Chief of General Staff of the
SPLM
4. Captain Salva Kiir Mayardit was
promoted to the rank of Major and appointed Deputy Chief of Staff
for Security and military operations,
5. Nyachigag Nyachiluk was given a
military rank of Major and appointed alternate Member of
Politico-Military High Command.
It was in this light that the struggle
whose manifestations were to haunt the South Sudan liberation
struggle throughout the Campaigns (1983-2005) thus started as two
antagonistic movements contrary to what others say it was one
movement that split up into two. This was made clear by Dr John
Garang in an interview with the author of the Sudan's Painful Road
to Peace in 1986 that: Our objectives was to convince the Anya Nya
Two to join us. The Anya Nya Two also attempted to convince us to
join them. The failure of the two groups to join together as one
organisation, unfortunately led to the start of the war as two
movements that brought untold sufferings and setbacks to the people
of Southern Sudan they had wanted to liberate.
Hon. Arop Madut Arop
Member of Parliament(MP)
Journalist and Writer.
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