News Article by AFP on February 05, 2000 at 16:17:55:
ANALYSIS: Sudan's Machar tenders resignation
KHARTOUM, Feb 5 (AFP) - Senior pro-government south Sudanese
Riek Machar -- a former rebel -- has resigned as assistant president
as well as chairman of the governing body in south Sudan, a
spokesman said Saturday.
Machar also resigned as leader of the United Democratic
Salvation Front (UDSF) but retained his leadership of the South
Sudan Defence Forces, said UDSF spokesman Makwac Teny Youk.
Machar accused the government of having sent troops to fight his
soldiers -- also former rebels -- in southern Unity state since
September 1997, Youk said.
This was a reference to fighting between the United Army militia
faction of Paulino Mateb, who holds the rank of major general in the
government army, and the forces loyal to Machar.
Machar was previously number two in the Sudan People's
Liberation Army, made up mainly of black southern animists and
Christians who have been fighting for 16 years to rid the south of
Arab and Islamic domination. He defected to the government side in
1997.
Machar is in Unity state at the moment, Youk told AFP, adding
that he had sent his resignation letter to President Omar al-Beshir
on January 31.
Analysts said it was unclear whether Machar intended to throw
his lot in with the rebels once again, but Youk said: "I do not
think the resignation would mean that Machar will rejoin the
rebellion."
Beshir had not yet decided whether to accept the resignations,
he added.
Youk said Machar wrote that the reasons that prompted his
resignation included the failure by the government to implement a
peace agreement it concluded with a number of south Sudanese
factions, including that of Machar, in Khartoum in April 1997, when
they switched sides, and its failure to consult the Coordination
Council in recently appointing new governors for the southern
Sudanese states.
Both sides - the government and the UDSF - are presently
considering Machar's resignation, Youk said.
Although no official statement has yet been given by the
government, the UDSF spokesman said the two sides held a meeting in
the presidential palace Saturday under the chairmanship of First
Vice President Ali Osman Taha and discussed the issue.
Taha, according to Youk, expressed his dismay at Machar's
resignations, saying they were "a surprise" to the government
"particularly as Dr. Machar was fully aware of the problems the
country is currently passing through."
All the participants in the meeting, who included Defence
Minister Abdel Rahman Siral Khatim, acting UDSF chairman Peter Abdel
Rahman Soli and SSDF Chief of Staff Elija Hon, expressed their
dismay over the resignations and expressed the hope that Machar
would change his mind, said the spokesman, who also took part in the
meeting.
The National Congress Party of Hassan al-Turabi meanwhile,
blamed Beshir's government for the resignations, agreeing with
Machar that it had failed to implement the 1997 Khartoum peace
agreement.
National Congress Deputy Secretary General Ali al-Haj Mohamed,
told reporters the government "is to blame for the resignation by
Dr. Machar and for his possible defection to the rebel movement."
Mohamed, a staunch supporter of Turabi, currently engaged in a
power struggle with the president, described as "objective" the
reasons Machar gave in his resignation letter, particularly the
failure by the government to implement the agreement's provisions of
forming joint military committees.
After this resignation, "all possibilities are now likely,
including Machar's return to the rebel movement," said Turabi's
close aide.