Malik Agar
Malik Agar is a Sudanese politician and insurgent leader active in the insurgency in Blue Nile state.
Malik Agar | |
---|---|
Malik Agar on August 19, 2009 | |
Chairman of the SRF | |
Assumed office February 2012 | |
Chairman of SPLM-N | |
Assumed office February 2011 | |
Governor of Blue Nile State | |
In office April 2010 – 2 September 2011 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Ingessana Hills, Blue Nile State, Republic of Sudan |
Nationality | Sudanese |
Political party | SPLM-N |
Occupation | Politician, soldier |
Military service | |
Allegiance | Sudan People's Liberation Movement |
Years of service | 1983 - present |
Battles/wars | Second Sudanese Civil War Sudan internal conflict (2011–present) |
Second Sudanese Civil War
Agar joined the Sudanese armed opposition shortly after the beginning of the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983.[1]
In the 1990s, he was the commander of a section of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) military forces along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border south of the Blue Nile to Geissan.[2] SPLM units under his command captured the towns of Kurmuk and Qaissan in 1997.[1]
Agar was close to John Garang, and shared his goal of overthrowing the Sudanese government, as opposed to fighting for the secession of South Sudan. After Garang's death Agar, along with other's who shared a desire for a revolution in Sudan, were marginalised by the new SPLM leadership. Agar expressed his disapproval of the secession of South Sudan to a US Official in 2009, stating that it would cause the eventual splintering of the rest of Sudan.[1]
Post-Civil War
He was elected governor of Blue Nile State in the Republic of the Sudan in April 2010.[3][4] Agar was one of the few high-profile members of the Sudanese opposition to run in the election, and was the only non-NCP candidate to win a governorship. Agar defeated the NCP candidate, Farah Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Aggar, by 108,119 to 99,417 votes.[1]
In February 2011 Malik Agar also became chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (northern sector), the part of the SPLM that operates in northern Sudan. The SPLM-NS became a separate political party when Southern Sudan seceded from the Republic of Sudan in July 2011.[5]
On 2 September, Agar was deposed as governor on the orders of President Omar al-Bashir. He fled to the southern part of the state and is reportedly planning a counterattack. He has warned that the Sudan–SPLM conflict may ignite a wider Sudanese civil war.[6]
In February 2012 Agar helped found the Sudanese Revolutionary Front; a coalition of Sudanese opposition groups that aims to overthrow the Sudanese government and replace it with a democracy.[1] In Feb 2012 Agar was elected president of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF)[7].
Ideology
Agar rejects President Omar al-Bashir's vision of an Arab-Islamic state, and has argued instead for a multicultural civil democracy.[1]
References
- "Malik Aggar Eyre Gandof". Sudan Tribune. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
- John Young "Along Ethiopia's Western Frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in Transition", Journal of Modern African Studies, 37 (1999), p. 334
- "SPLM celebrates victory in Blue Nile State", Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011)
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-07.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Malik Aggar to head SPLM in the north", Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011)
- "Sudan declares emergency in Blue Nile state". Al Jazeera English. 3 September 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
- "SRF Sudan".