Riek Machar

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May 2006 initial meeting between Joseph Kony (left) and Riek Machar, Vice President of Southern Sudan (center).
May 2006 initial meeting between Joseph Kony (left) and Riek Machar, Vice President of Southern Sudan (center).

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

Contents

[edit] Biography

He 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. He then became the leader of the South Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM) (1994-1997).

It was during that time when fighting break out between Lou Nuer and Bor after Attack by SPLA forces under Dr John Garang, in June of 1991, that Riek married Emma McCune, a British aid worker, whose life with the SPLA/M leader is described in the books"Till The Sun Grows Cold" written by Maggie McCune (Emma's Mother) and "Emma's War" by Deborah Scroggins[3]. The marriage caused controversy both among Riek's SPLA colleagues and the NGO community in Sudan. McCune died in a car crash in Nairobi in 1993.

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 Khratoum.[4] 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). At the same time, it was that agreement signed by Riek that gave the National Islamic Front (Khartoum government) the signal to start drilling oil in the South even to this day.

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 it's 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 it's differences with the new SPLA/M leadership and merged it's forces into that organisation in January 2006 under the Juba Declaration.

Machar received a Doctor of Science in robotic engineering from the University of Bradford.[5]

[edit] Controversy and criticism

[edit] Mediation with the Lord's Resistance Army

In June 2006, Riek Machar was filmed meeting the leadership of the Ugandan Lords Resistance Army[6] - a rebel group proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department in December 2001,[7] and whose leaders were indicted as war criminals by the International Criminal Court in October 2005.[8] The film shows Machar handing over bundles of cash to the LRA leadership.[9] Machar is the lead negotiator of the Juba talks between the LRA and government of Uganda.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Riek Machar, What a leader: Records Of Corruption, Manipulation, and Scandals", Sudan Tribune, 2006-05-08. Retrieved on 2006-10-01. 
  2. ^ Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement
  3. ^ Scroggins, Deborah (2003). Emma's war: love, betrayal and death in the Sudan. Harper Perennial, 389. ISBN 0-00-655147-5. 
  4. ^ Riek Machar
  5. ^ Rachel M. Gisselquist, WPF Report 26: Sudan: Policy Options Amid Civil War, World Peace Foundation, 2000, , p. 7. Note that some sources, notably Manyang, Mayom. "Sudan SPLM leadership Bio-data and profiled", Sudan Tribune, 2005-12-26. Retrieved on 2006-10-18.  erroneously list the university as diploma mill University of Bedford.
  6. ^ Kony, Joseph. "UGANDA: LRA rebels ready to talk peace", Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2006-05-25. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. 
  7. ^ Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. "Terrorist Exclusion List", United States Department of State, 2002-11-15. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. 
  8. ^ "Ugandan top rebel leader indicted", BBC News, 2007-10-07. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. 
  9. ^ Hartley, Mick. "Bundles of Cash", 2006-06-04. Retrieved on 2007-05-10. 

[edit] 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

[edit] Links

Preceded by
Salva Kiir Mayardit		 Vice President of Southern Sudan
11 August 2005 – present		 Incumbent
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