Lam Akol accused of involvement in recent attack in southern Sudan

KHARTOUM, Mar 02, 2004 (Sudan Tribune) — The official spokesman for the Coordination Council of the Southern States (CCSS), Osman Tawil, has said the rocket-propelled-grenade attack against aid workers in Western Upper Nile region in southern Sudan, was carried out by the former minister of transport, Lam Akol.

Unidentified paramilitary forces in Nimnim, western Upper Nile, deliberately attacked eight aid workers working in the area on 20 February, according to the UN.

The United Nations said on 27 February it had suspended aid to around 30,000 people in southern Sudan after the attack..

Tawil said Lam Akol recently realigned himself with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), withdrawing from the Khartoum government, to bring about chaos in the region and draw people’s attention.

Tawil told the Dubi based Al-Bayyan newspaper the incident was caused by an internal conflict between Akol’s faction, since there were some elements rejecting the withdrawal from the Al-Fashoda agreement signed with the government in September 1997.

Al-Tawil explained that Lam Akol wanted to draw people’s attention and knew that fighting among his faction would not draw the world’s attention as much as it would him launching an attack against a humanitarian organization operating in the region.

The leader of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army’s (SPLA) United faction, Lam Akol, broke with GoS on 24 October to rejoin the SPLA on Friday 31 October.

A declaration signed by Dr Lam Akol, the chairman of the SPLM/A-U, and Salva Kiir, the chief of general staff of the SPLM/A, agreed to an immediate merger of the two forces under the SPLM/A name, stating that “a united stand is the only sure way to bring the war to a just and speedy end”.