| Country: | Sudan |
| Details of Formation: | The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005 stipulated that all armed groups had to integrate either into the SPLA or the SAF by January 2006. In January 2006, Salvo Kiir, president of South Sudan, and Paulino Matiep of the SSDF signed the Juba declaration, by which the SSDF was to join the SPLA and Paulino Matiep became the SPLA’s deputy commander in chief (Arnold 2007). Although a large majority of SSDF declared allegiance to the SPLA, not all SSDF members joined the SSDF (Young 2006). Some reorganized under the leadership of Maj. Gen. Gordon Kong and maintained an armed presence in South Sudan. These activities were in contradiction to the CPA, but the army continued to (now unofficially) provide the group with arms. This part of the SSDF now had an informal government-relation. The SSDF informal is the successor of the SSDF, with the difference that government-relation changed. |
| Details of Termination: | In September 2007, a news source reports that a Major-General Gabriel Tange of the Southern Sudan Defence Forces, probably referring to Gabriel Tanginya from the South Sudan Defence Forces, laid down the arms of the militia in order to form a new party, called Southern Sudan Defence Party. As the SSDF informal is not mentioned by news or meta sources after that date, it can be assumed that it was terminated that month. |
| Purpose: | By supporting the SSDF informal, the government left open the possibility of using them later to disrupt the peace process in the future (Young 2006). News sources report that the Sudanese government used the SSDF to destabilize the South, control disputed areas and oil fields and create uncertainty about the border. |
| Organisation: | The SSDF informal were first under the leadership of Major General Gordon Kong (Arnold 2007). Later, general Tanginya seems to have taken over the command. The government of Sudan supported the SSDF informal in form of cash payments to individual commanders, delivery of arms and ammunition and provision of transportation resources and food. The Sudanese Armed Forces provided the SSDF with barracks in Khartoum, for which it paid rent and food. The army never denied that it maintained logistical support for the SSDF informal, although it denied providing arms and ammunitions, as this would have constituted a breach of the CPA (Arnold 2007). |
| Weapons and Training: | The SSDF informal received arms and ammunition from the Sudanese Armed Forces (Arnold 2007). |
| Size: | In 2006, the number of SSDF informal soldiers who remained aligned to the Sudanese army was calculated to be 6,000. |
| Reason for Membership: | Many members of the SSDF wanted to form a South Sudan Army to replace the SPLA. Many SSDF commanders held formal positions in the Sudanese Armed Forces and received a steady salary, which made them unwilling to join the SPLA. Some secondary officers remained with the SSDF after the Juba Declaration in order to fill the voids of the commanders who had joined the SPLA, thereby ascending to senior officer positions and receiving payment from the Sudanese army. Additionally, many SSDF members strongly disliked SPLA’s long-time leader John Garang (Arnold 2007). Another sources says major motivations for SSDF informal members were the financial incentives, desire for recognition and inertia (Young 2006). |
| Treatment of Civilians: | In August 2006, the SSDF informal burned a few villages and killed three civilians (Young 2006). |
| Other Information: | The SSDF informal is the successor PGM of the SSDF, the only difference being the government-relation. As such, some characteristics of the PGM had not changed (e.g. membership) and were taken from the SSDF coding. The SSDF Tanginya faction belonged to the SSDF informal after the SSDF dissolved (Young 2006). Tanginya later took overall command of the SSDF informal umbrella group. The difference between both groups is that the Taginya faction was already an active group with significant independence from the SSDF structure in 2004, while the SSDF informal denotes the SSDF umbrella structure. SSDF Tanginya faction is coded as successor group to capture the connection. |
| References: |
Arnold, Matthew B. 2007. “The South Sudan Defence Force: patriots, collaborators or spoilers?” Journal of Modern African Studies 45 (4): 489-516. Young, John. 2006. “The South Sudan Defence Forces in the Wake of the Juba Declaration.” Small Arms Survey HSBA Working Paper 1. ISBN 2-8288-0077-6. Information was taken from news sources listed in the PGMD |