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South Sudan People's Defence Forces
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South Sudan People's Defence Forces
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the military force of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the subsequent independence of South Sudan. It was led by John Garang, who died in 2005 and was succeeded by Salva Kiir. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers.
Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the last remaining large and well-equipped militia, the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), under General Paulino Matiep, signed an agreement with Kiir known as the Juba Declaration, which amalgamated the two forces under the SPLA banner.
Following South Sudan's independence in 2011, Kiir became President and the SPLA became the new republic's regular army. In May 2017 there was a restructure and the SPLA took on the name of South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), with another change in September 2018 to South Sudan People's Defence Forces. As of 2018[update], the army was estimated to have 185,000 soldiers as well as an unknown number of personnel in the small South Sudan Air Force. As of 2019[update], the SSPDF comprised the Ground Force, Air Force, Air Defence Forces and Presidential Guard.
On 16 May 1983 105 Battalion launched a mutiny in Malual-Chaat barrack, Bor against the Sudanese army which later inspired a number of mutinies in the southern region including those at Ayod, Pochalla, and Pibor. These mutinies led to the creation of the SPLA later that year.
At its inception John Garang was the SPLA's Commander-in-Chief. Kerubino Kuanyin Bol was appointed second ranking Commander, and William Nyuon Bany third. By June 1983, the majority of mutineers had moved to Ethiopia or were on their way there. The Ethiopian government's decision to support the emerging SPLA was a means of exacting revenge upon the Sudanese government for its support of Eritrean rebels.
The SPLA struggled for a united and secular Sudanese state. Garang said the struggle of the South Sudanese was the same as that of marginalised groups in the north, such as the Nuba and Fur peoples. Until 1985, the SPLA directed its public denouncements of the Sudanese government specifically at Sudanese President, Gaafar Nimeiry. During the years that followed, SPLA propaganda denounced the Khartoum government as a family affair that played on sectarian tensions. The SPLA denounced the introduction of Sharia law in September 1983.
The first fully-fledged SPLA battalion graduated in 1984 in the village of Bilpam. The name 'Bilpam' carried great symbolic importance for SPLA for years to come, as the epicentre of the uprising. After Bilpam, other SPLA training camps were established at Dimma, Bonga and Panyido.
In the mid-1980s the SPLA armed struggle blocked development projects of the Sudanese government, such as the Bentiu Oil Fields.
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South Sudan People's Defence Forces
The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the military force of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the subsequent independence of South Sudan. It was led by John Garang, who died in 2005 and was succeeded by Salva Kiir. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers.
Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the last remaining large and well-equipped militia, the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), under General Paulino Matiep, signed an agreement with Kiir known as the Juba Declaration, which amalgamated the two forces under the SPLA banner.
Following South Sudan's independence in 2011, Kiir became President and the SPLA became the new republic's regular army. In May 2017 there was a restructure and the SPLA took on the name of South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), with another change in September 2018 to South Sudan People's Defence Forces. As of 2018[update], the army was estimated to have 185,000 soldiers as well as an unknown number of personnel in the small South Sudan Air Force. As of 2019[update], the SSPDF comprised the Ground Force, Air Force, Air Defence Forces and Presidential Guard.
On 16 May 1983 105 Battalion launched a mutiny in Malual-Chaat barrack, Bor against the Sudanese army which later inspired a number of mutinies in the southern region including those at Ayod, Pochalla, and Pibor. These mutinies led to the creation of the SPLA later that year.
At its inception John Garang was the SPLA's Commander-in-Chief. Kerubino Kuanyin Bol was appointed second ranking Commander, and William Nyuon Bany third. By June 1983, the majority of mutineers had moved to Ethiopia or were on their way there. The Ethiopian government's decision to support the emerging SPLA was a means of exacting revenge upon the Sudanese government for its support of Eritrean rebels.
The SPLA struggled for a united and secular Sudanese state. Garang said the struggle of the South Sudanese was the same as that of marginalised groups in the north, such as the Nuba and Fur peoples. Until 1985, the SPLA directed its public denouncements of the Sudanese government specifically at Sudanese President, Gaafar Nimeiry. During the years that followed, SPLA propaganda denounced the Khartoum government as a family affair that played on sectarian tensions. The SPLA denounced the introduction of Sharia law in September 1983.
The first fully-fledged SPLA battalion graduated in 1984 in the village of Bilpam. The name 'Bilpam' carried great symbolic importance for SPLA for years to come, as the epicentre of the uprising. After Bilpam, other SPLA training camps were established at Dimma, Bonga and Panyido.
In the mid-1980s the SPLA armed struggle blocked development projects of the Sudanese government, such as the Bentiu Oil Fields.
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