New rebel group formed

The formation of a new rebel group, the South Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM), was announced in Nairobi on Tuesday. Members of the group told journalists that it was "an interim political structure to oversee and nurse the political and military developments in Upper Nile". Its objective was to "mobilise the people of greater Upper Nile Region for their effective participation in the war of liberation".

A member of the group, Peter Adwok, told IRIN that the SSLM was launched on 31 January in Waat in central Upper Nile to "bring together all the tribes in the Upper Nile region who have been neutralised, hence ineffective, in the liberation struggle". He said the idea followed meetings with other rebel movements including the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the establishment of the Upper Nile Provisional Military Command Council (UMCC) on 4 November 1999. The UMCC
supposedly "unified all the military forces" in central, eastern and western Upper Nile. "We want to bring together the Shulluk, Nuer, Dinka, Murle, Anjuak and Maban who have been neutralised since 1991 yet there is need for them to come back into the liberation struggle," Adwok said. He added that the SSLM would work with the SPLM/A as a "partner" in the struggle. "We hope it will not degenerate to infighting akin to what happened in 1991 when everyone wanted [SPLA leader John] Garang's post,"
he said. "This time, it is not leadership of the movement but a unified fight against a common enemy."