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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.
Machar was one of the earliest members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA/M) under John Garang (1984). 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.
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Encyclopedia
Riek Machar Teny (born 1952), a Dok Nuer, is the current vice-president of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan.
Biography
Riek Machar was one of the earliest members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA/M) under John Garang (1984). 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. 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 it's differences with the new SPLA/M leadership and merged it's forces into that organisation in January 2006 under the Juba Declaration.
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 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. 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.
Machar received a Doctor of Science in robotic engineering from the University of Bradford.
Rieck Machar Teny Dhorgon is a born Nuer son from Adok in Bentiu also knowns as Western Upper Nile or Unity State. He is a member of the Nuer tribe the second largest tribe in southern Sudan. After breaking away in 1991 from the SPLM/A to fight for freedom of self-determination, Riek is seen by many southerners as the jesus of democracy of southern Sudan. He brought the idea of self determination to live among southerners opening their eyes to a new beginning.
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
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