Page 14 - EVOLUTION OF THE SUDAN PEOPLE’S LIBERATION MOVEMENT(SPLM),

condominium administration took control of Sudan and South Sudan before the Mahdi revolt that
ultimately defeated the British and Egyptians, stamping their authority in the Sudan.

The imperial domination and resistance planted the strong seeds of Sudanese nationalism that was
slowly beginning to take shape since the beginning of world war one. The question of Sudanese
nationalism and South Sudan’s self-determination was raised even before independence could be

granted, as southern soldiers in Torit and elsewhere mutinied in support of self-determination (Wells
and Dilla, 1993). This resistance, otherwise associated with the Anyanya (I) was largely based on
the Equatorial and marked the first phase of South Sudanese resistance for self-determination.

Save for the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement, the question of the independence of South Sudan
remained controversial until its determination was concluded through the comprehensive peace
agreement in 2005 and subsequent political independence in 2011(Johnson, 2014; Wawa, 2005).

A brief outline of political progress in the period 1983–91, and in the South in particular, sets the platform
for the chief discussion of this work and serves as a point reference for later changes. Some aspects are more

important than others: political developments in Khartoum, the regional and international setting, and the
SPLM/A’s early history and political organization during its first years, all of which form the background
for the split of 1991 and subsequent announcement of reforms.

This study focuses on the role of the SPLM as a movement and political party in addressing
social issues and national challenges upon South Sudan’s attainment of political independence

as at July 2011. It is of the essence to understand that liberation movements have a culture of
their own, hopes, fears and aspirations that have historical genesis, emanating from the nature
of the struggle. Furthermore, the presence of internal and external factors that prevent liberation
movements from accomplishing their goals cannot be ignored; especially when they come to
power. This study will investigate into these factors with reference to the SPLM.

Two contradictory themes of the Southern Sudan’s history – continuity and instability – are important in the

analysis of political changes during the 1990s. Instability had been created and sustained by the antagonism
between the region and the center, but also by the lack of a well-established state-structure.

Until the 1920s, much of the South had not been placed under administration, and after that only under a
minimal “indirect” rule. The insecurity and destruction during the first civil war meant that by 1972 the
people of the South were worse off than at time of the demise of Condominium rule. Thus the challenges

facing the regional government and the foreign NGOs in 1972 were tremendous. Then, after only a decade
of uneasy peace, the achievements of the Addis Ababa Agreement period were all but reversed during
the first years of the second civil war. Therefore, when the SPLM/A officially declared that it wanted to
expand rudimentary local administration into a civil government structure in 1991, a war-weary population

threatened annually by famine and living in an area with close to no infrastructure did not represent an ideal
point of departure for this endeavour.

As a consequence of neglect and, to a lesser degree, design, institutions at the local level had to a surprising
degree remained unchanged. By 1983 local institutions partly created by the British policy of “indirect” rule
remained largely unaltered, as did most local administrative boundaries. The SPLM/A had to rely on the

chiefs and their authority for government at the local level: the chiefs collected taxes, presided over local
courts, and provided recruits and labour. Although the memory of the foreign humanitarian organizations

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