Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon was born in
Leer,
Unity State on 26 November 1952, the 27th son of the chief of
Ayod and Leer. He was brought up as a member of the Presbyterian church. Machar belongs to the Dok section (Dok-Chiengluom) of the
Nuer Bentiu people. He trained as an engineer at
Khartoum University, and obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the
University of Bradford in 1984. Machar has been called a
tuut dhoali/Doth in English, which may be translated "adult boy", meaning uninitiated and literate. He has tried to transcend tribal divisions, and at one time attempted to ban initiation marks. However, in his struggle with
John Garang he exploited ethnic rivalries between the Nuer and
Dinka people. Machar married
Emma McCune, a British aid worker. She died in a car accident in
Nairobi in 1993 at the age of 29, while pregnant. Machar's second wife,
Angelina Teny, is one of the leading women politicians in South Sudan. She was state minister of Energy and Mining in the transitional government (2005–2010). Machar was a rebel leader with the
Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLM/A) headed by
John Garang from 1984 until he fell out with Garang in 1991. As Zonal Commander of Western Upper Nile, in 1986 he entered into an agreement with
Baggara chiefs. Machar led forces that attacked and overran
Melut in 1989. That year he was able to visit his family, which was based in Britain, for the first time since the civil war started. In 1990 Machar was based at Leer. Later he was appointed SPLA Regional Commander for a region that extended from the Ethiopian border in the east to
Renk in the north and to
Ayod and
Waat in the south. Machar disagreed with the SPLA leader John Garang over objectives. Where John Garang at first wanted a secular and democratic but united Sudan in which the southerners would have full representation, Machar wanted a fully independent South Sudan. In August 1991 Riek Machar,
Lam Akol and
Gordon Kong announced that John Garang had been ejected from the SPLM. Kong Chuol is from the Eastern Jikany Nuer and Lam Akol is from the
Shilluk people. The breakaway faction, based in
Nasir until 1995 and then in Waat and Ayod, was called the SPLM/A-Nasir faction from 1991 to 1993. As part of
SPLA-Nasir, he was involved in the
Bor massacre, where 2000 mostly civilians were killed in Bor in 1991 while tens of thousands died in the following years from the
resulting famine. The Bul Nuer Anyanya-2 militia at
Mayom under
Paulino Matip and the Lou Nuer Anyanya-2 militia at
Doleib Hill under
Yohannes Yual declared for Riek.
Kerubino Kuanyin and Faustino Atem Gualdit, Dinkas from Bahr el-Ghazal, had been among the founders of the SPLM but had fallen out with John Garang and had been jailed. They escaped and joined Machar in 1993, with their forces making an important addition to the formerly Nuer-dominated SPLA-Nasir. Kerubino became deputy Commander in Chief. After this addition by forces from other ethnic groups, Riek's movement and force was called the SPLA-United from 1993 to 1994. In September 1993, President
Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya held separate talks with Garang and Riek Machar. In October 1993 the US Congress hosted a meeting between Garang and Machar. The two seemed to agree about various subjects related to a cease fire and reconciliation between the two factions,
self-determination and opposition to the Khartoum regime, but Machar disputed Garang's authority and refused to sign a joint declaration. Machar dismissed Lam Akol from the SPLA-United in February 1994. Lam Akol returned to
Kodok in the government-held region of
Upper Nile state. From 1994 to 1997 Machar's movement was known as the South Sudan Independence Movement/Army (SSIM/A). Although seeking independence for South Sudan, the group received covert support from the Government of Sudan as it fought the SPLA between 1991 and 1999 in attacks that became increasingly violent and ethnically motivated. Early in 1995 hostilities between the SSIM and SPLA, which had taken several thousands of civilian lives, were temporarily suspended. Machar dismissed Kerubino Kuanyin and Commander
William Nyuon Bany from the SSIM on the basis that they had signed military and political agreements with the government of Sudan late in the previous year, and that they had attempted to form a government-supported faction in the SSIM. During the 1990s Machar skillfully developed support among the eastern Nuer, the Jikany and the Lou, taking advantage of SPLA unpopularity with the Jikany and drawing on prophetic tradition to make his case. In 1996 Machar signed a Political Charter and in 1997 the
Khartoum Peace Agreement with the government. Under this agreement he was assistant to
Omar el-Bashir, President of Sudan, and President of the Southern States Coordinating Council. He was also made commander in chief of the
South Sudan Defense Force (SSDF), which included most of the ex-rebels who had signed the Khartoum agreement. ==Return to SPLM==