The rise and the fall of Dr Lam Akol

“On many occasions the SPLM has been ambivalent on national issues, such as the ICC’s indictment of the President Omer El Beshir, the last attack on Gaza, the deployment of UN troops in Darfur, etc” stated Dr Lam Akol, on June, 6, 2009 .

By Majok Nikodemo Arou

June 13, 2009 — With the declaration of his new party the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) on June 6, 2009, controversial Dr Lam Akol put an end to a series of denials and speculations about launching the new political entity. Akol’s cuckoo move is not only aimed to dismantle the mother SPLM, but a well-calculated Machiavellian attempt to smother the very objectives the SPLM fought for.

With legacy of six defections, Akol has vowed not to rest until he could be in a position to steer the wheel of Southern Sudan politics whether subjectively or objectively- no matter what. His controversial history of defections demonstrates that clearly.

Talented academic, Dr Akol starred in the Sudanese politics after the fall of the late Sudanese President Ja’afar Mohammed al-Nimeri in popular uprising in 1985. Though in Khartoum, Akol played an important role as the SPLM activist. Hence, he won full backing from the Southern Sudanese intellectual youth and the educated class. He became one of the prominent members of Sudan African Congress (SAC). There was consensus among the Southern Sudanese intellectuals to back the SPLM.

The intellectuals in Khartoum, among others Dr Akol, supported the late Dr John Garang’s New Sudan vision against the position of the late Akuot Atem, the late Gai Tut – the position later sustained by the late Abdullah Chuol with some deviations though.

Soon after the mission accomplished, Dr Lam made the first and may be the last heroic step by joining the SPLM amid wide welcome by the southern intellectuals and masses. Due to his patriotic background, Dr Akol rose within no time to the hierarchy of the SPLM. He became the zonal commander of the SPLM in Northern Upper Nile. But according to those who worked under him in the area, Dr Akol failed to discharge his duties. He was summoned to the headquarters, where he was assigned other duties. Albeit, Dr Akol managed to lead the SPLM delegations to the peace talks and missions successfully. It would be unrealistic to deny him success in this respect.

Following the fall of former Ethiopian President Mengistu Haile Mariam in mid 1991, rumours surfaced that Dr Akol was planning a coup d’état. Those rumours were verified when the split engineered by Dr Akol and chaired by Dr Riek Machar was announced in Nasser on Aug. 28, 1991. The timing of the split was a blow to the SPLM, which was only dislodged just three months from Ethiopia. The difficulties were posed by the repatriation of the refugees caused by the coercive circumstances of the regime change in Ethiopia, as well as the pressures from the new Ethiopian government in Addis Ababa. Of course, the new government installed by the revolutionaries in Addis Ababa was bitter against the SPLM due to its support to the former government. That attitude was culminated with the move of the Ethiopian militias in Feb. 1992 to attack and capture the border town of Pochalla, which was then one of the SPLM strongholds, and handed it to Khartoum government.

The split divided the SPLM into two factions: Torit and Nasser factions. A lot of blood was shed as a result of the split. The Nasser faction drew closer to Khartoum government as what its leaders then called as a tactical defence measure. But Khartoum took the advantage to infiltrate the Nasser faction. It divided it in two many factions to use them against each other or fight the Torit faction. Exploiting the confusion, Khartoum succeeded to launch a successful summer campaign in which it captured many of the SPLM held towns. When Khartoum Army captured Torit in 1992 there was jubilation in the Northern Sudan, but the mood was sombre in the South and among Southerners in the North. Dr Akol then claimed that Torit could be recaptured!! It is to be noted that the SPLM-United of Dr Akol never fought Khartoum until it vanished in the thin air.

In 1993, Akol defected again from Machar, citing the same reasons. He formed the SPLM United. Later he signed ludicrous peace agreement, namely, the Fashoda Agreement instead of joining the Khartoum Peace Agreement signed earlier by Dr Riek Machar, the late Kurbino Kuany and the late Arok Thon. Wavering as usual, Akol dumped his party and joined the National Congress Party (NCP). He was appointed as a Minister of Transport. Again the man packed to a new party called Justice. Not to miss the window of opportunity as peace was approaching; Dr Akol defected from the Justice party in 2003 and joined the SPLM, where he was received as a prodigal son. When the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was signed in 2005, the SPLM became a partner of the NCP in the Government of National Unity (GoNU). Dr Akol was honoured to become the first ever Southern Sudanese to occupy the post of Foreign Minister since the independence in 1956.

Caught the SPLM off guarded, Dr Akol quickly allied himself to the NCP under pretext that the FM reports directly under the President and not to the party. He showed an inexplicable insolence and lack of respect to his party members whenever approached about his position on a number of issues. Dr Akol used to state that he was not answerable to the party but only to the President al- Beshir. One time he travelled to New York without even informing the First Vice President of Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit out of sheer disrespect.

Being credited for his eloquence in Arabic language at some Arab forums when he was Sudan FM, Dr Akol articulated recently in his defection statement that the SPLM did not take a position about the recent Gaza Strip events. But did he take a position anyway? What was his position about the violence in Somalia and Democratic Republic of Congo too? It’s another demonstration that Dr Akol is living in fool’s paradise. The People of Southern Sudan and the margins had experienced bitter violence that they would not condone it anywhere Dr Akol. Immersing of Gaza into our local politics will remain anybody’s guess$$$

In their last-ditch futile campaign, group of Dr Akol’s die hard supporters and disciples painted a ludicrous scenario, stating that Akol is a father of the Self Determination. Indeed, they fail to prove by what capacity did the engineer who got confused about the angles of politics became overnight the father of the Self Determination?!

The late General Paul Ali Gbutala, who ignited the revolution in Torit in Aug. 1955, fought for the Self Determination. Gbutala was honoured by the SPLM in Western Equatoria in 1992. The torch of struggle was later passed in 1969 to General Joseph Lago, who fought for the Self Determination. The less organised Anyanya 2 in the Eastern Upper Nile in the mid 1975-1983 declared they were fighting for the Self Determination.

Southern Sudanese elder in US, James Ogilo Agokwec wrote on Feb. 23, 2007, “the claim by Lam supporters that he is the historical and intellectual father of the Self Determination for the South Sudan, is unfortunately not a good lie. Such a claim can be classified as intellectual property theft ‘plagiarism’. The claim also amounts to denying Dr Lam’s own father, Akol Ajawin and his brother Dr Justin Papity Akol (killed in Wau massacre in 1965), of having participated at all in the Southern politics during their life time. This is shameful.”

Agokwec, continued, “The truth is with the fall of the military regime of General Ibrahim Aboud in October 1964, the Southern Front Party was born in January 1965, in preparation for the Round Table Conference between the South and the North. The Southern Front Party convened its first conference in Malakal. The conference officially adopted the self-determination for South Sudan as the party’s manifesto. The leader of the Southern Front Party was the late Uncle Gordon Mortat. It is to be recalled that both the late Dr Justin Papity and the late Uncle Akol Ajawin were members of the Southern Front Party. The party also reiterated its position of the Self Determination in its last convention held in Khartoum in 1969.”

Uncle Agokwec revealed he was the secretary general for both the Malakal and Khartoum conventions in 1965 and 1969 respectively.

Days before the declaration of split in 1991, the SPLM called for a meeting to be held in Torit to review the strategies in regard to the changes in Ethiopia. The Self Determination was in the agenda.

In his recent defection statement, Dr Akol blatantly condoned the belligerency of the NCP and its systematic attempt to derail the CPA. Instead, the man went off the deep end by slapping the SPLM with charges of corruption and leadership bankruptcy. Dr Akol even went so far to accuse the SPLM of delaying the referendum bill. A charge denied by the SPLM Deputy Chairman, Dr Riek Machar Teny, who also chairs the SPLM High Executive Political Committee for CPA implementation. Machar blamed the NCP on the delay of the referendum bill, pointing out that it took the NCP six months to study and respond to his committee’s initial draft bill on the Southern Sudan referendum.

Akol has not yet told the grassroots about his role as the leading figure in the SPLM before June 6. Hence, he is a party to all the charges he made against the SPLM.

It is anyone’s right to form his party, but it would be morally wrong to fully ally with the very perennial foe to intimidate your own people. The cases in point are the current and previous positions of Dr Akol. If he sees the errors of the SPLM are irreversible, then he should leave the SPLM alone and simply join the NCP.

One wonders whether the judgment of Dr Akol and his disciples that the SPLM was a culprit when it comes to the partnership between the SPLM and NCP. Did the SPLM procrastinates over the demarcation of the North- South borders, did the SPLM waver over passing of the referendum and popular consultation bills. Did the SPLM expedite its officers to wreak havoc in the North, did the SPLM disguise actual oil revenues and oil marketing plans, and did the SPLM send arms to the militias in the North? Did the SPLM rig the population census results? It does not need a genius to pinpoint who is a bad partner Dr Akol.

Some may view the defection of Dr Akol as a blessing in disguise. Yet the SPLM should seize this opportunity to review all its strategies and plans to ensure whether they are on track or not in regard to some issues. The SPLM leaders should talk to the grassroots and community leaders as they exactly did in Bentiu. They are also expected to do what it takes to beef security by disarming the militias whether peacefully or forcefully as time is running out.

They could also use the reserve SPLA army in the road and food production projects. There are warnings that there will be acute food crisis in 2010 as demand is growing in China and some developed countries.

The author is a Sudanese journalist and could be reached at [email protected]