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Sudan
Renewed Civil Warfare, 1983-
Under the terms of the 1972 peace settlement, most of the Anya
Nya fighters were absorbed into the national army, although a
number of units unhappy with the agreement defected and went into
the bush or took refuge in Ethiopia. Angry over Sudan's support
for Eritrean dissidents, Ethiopia began to provide help to Sudan's
independent rebel bands. The rebel forces gathered more recruits
among the Dinka and Nuer people, the largest groups in the south,
and eventually adopted the name of Anya Nya II.
Those original Anya Nya who had been absorbed into the army after
the 1972 peace accord were called upon to keep the guerrillas
in check and at first fought vigorously on behalf of the national
government. But when in 1983 Nimeiri adopted policies of redividing
the south and imposing Islamic law, the loyalty of southern soldiers
began to waver. Uncertain of their dependability, Nimeiri introduced
more northern troops into the south and attempted to transfer
the ex-guerrillas to the north. In February 1983, army units in
Bor, Pibor Post, and Pochala mutinied. Desertions and mutinies
in other southern garrisons soon followed.
In mid-1983 representatives of Anya Nya II and of the mutinous
army units meeting in Ethiopia formed the Sudanese People's Liberation
Army (SPLA). John Garang, a Dinka Sudanese, was named its commander
and also head of the political wing, the Sudanese People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM). The southern forces in rebellion failed to achieve
full unity under Garang, and, in a struggle for power, the dissident
units composed of elements of Anya Nya II were routed by Garang's
forces. The defeated remnants, still calling themselves Anya Nya
II, began to cooperate with the national army against the SPLA.
Still scarcely an effective fighting force, the SPLA relied at
first on ambushes of military vehicles and assaults on police
stations and small army posts, mainly in the Nuer and Dinka areas
of Aali an Nil Province and northern and eastern Bahr al Ghazal
Province. An SPLA attempt to invade eastern Al Istiwai in early
1985 was met with stiff resistance by the army and government
militias. But by 1986 the SPLA was strong enough to hold the important
town of Rumbek in southern Bahr al Ghazal for several months and
was also able to press an attack against Waw, the provincial capital.
During 1987, the SPLA took Pibor Post and Tonga in Aali an Nil,
and by the beginning of 1988, it had captured a number of towns
on the Ethiopian border and near the White Nile. Advancing northward
into Al Awsat Province, it held Kurmuk and Qaysan for a time in
late 1987.
The SPLA was opposed by many communities in Al Istiwai Province
where the Dinka and Nuer were not popular. The national army was
assisted by a militia of the Mundari people, but the SPLA was
gradually able to consolidate its position in eastern Al Istiwai.
By 1988 the SPLA controlled the countryside around Juba, the major
southern city, besieging at least 10,000 government troops, who
were virtually cut off from supplies except for what could be
delivered by air. During a general offensive in early 1989, the
SPLA captured Torit and other strategic towns of eastern Al Istiwai.
From May to October 1989, an informal truce prevailed. After the
conflict resumed, the areas being contested were principally in
western and central Al Istiwai, focusing on the government garrisons
at Juba and Yei . The fighting often consisted of ambushes by
the more lightly armed but mobile guerrillas against government
convoys moving supplies from the north. With captured weapons
and arms imported from Ethiopia and other African countries, the
SPLA was increasingly capable of conducting orthodox warfare employing
artillery and even armored vehicles, although its forces still
avoided conventional engagements against government units.
Anya Nya II began to crumble in 1987, many units and their commanders
deserting to the SPLA. But since 1985, the government had been
encouraging the formation of militia forces in areas where opposition
to the Dinka- and Nuer-dominated SPLA was strongest. These militias
were soon playing a major role in the fighting and were partly
responsible for the ravages that the civilian population has been
forced to endure. The arming of tribal groups inflamed existing
intercommunal conflicts and resulted in the deliberate killing
of tens of thousands of noncombatants and a vast displacement
of civilians.
Millions of villagers were forced from their homes as a consequence
of the fighting and the depredations of militias, the SPLA, and
Anya Nya II. Devastation of northern Bahr al Ghazal by the roving
murahalin (Arab militias) forced large numbers of destitute
people to evacuate the war zone in 1986 and 1987, many of them
making their way to northern Sudan to escape starvation. Raiding
decreased in 1988 and diminished further in 1989 as a result of
depopulation of the land and a stronger SPLA presence in northern
Bahr al Ghazal. Nevertheless, the migrations continued because
of the severe food shortage. Almost 1 million southerners were
believed to have reached Khartoum in 1989, and hundreds of thousands
had appeared in other towns and cities. About 350,000 Sudanese
refugees were registered in Ethiopia in 1989, at least 100,000
were in Juba, and 28,000 crossed into Uganda to escape the fighting
in southern Al Istiwai.
Data as of June 1991
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