Malik Agar
مالك عقار
Agar in 2009
Deputy Chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council
Assumed office
19 May 2023
ChairmanAbdel Fattah al-Burhan
Preceded byHemedti
Member of the Transitional Sovereignty Council
In office
11 November 2021 – 19 May 2023
In office
2 February 2021 – 25 October 2021
Chairman of the SRF
Assumed office
February 2012
Chairman of SPLM-N
Assumed office
February 2011
Governor of Blue Nile State
In office
April 2010 – 2 September 2011
Personal details
Born
Nganyofa Agar Eyre Nganyofa

Ingessana Hills, Blue Nile State, Republic of Sudan
Political partySPLM-N
OccupationPolitician, soldier
Military service
AllegianceSudan People's Liberation Movement
Years of service1983 – present
Battles/warsSecond Sudanese Civil War
Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile

Malik Agar (Arabic: مالك عقار, romanized: Mālik ʻAqqār; born Nganyofa Agar Eyre Nganyofa[1][2]) is a Sudanese politician and former insurgent leader who was active in the insurgency in Blue Nile state. Since 2023, he has been the deputy chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, Sudan's ruling military junta.[3]

Early life

Malik Agar was born Nganyofa Agar Eyre Nganyofa to an Ingessana chief in Blue Nile State. He did not know he was a Muslim until he was eight. His headteacher gave him the name "Malik" and told him he was a Muslim. From then on, he was called "Malik Agar Eyre".[1][2]

Second Sudanese Civil War

Agar joined the Sudanese armed opposition shortly after the beginning of the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983.[4]

In the 1990s, he was the commander of a section of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) military forces along the Ethiopia–Sudan border south of the Blue Nile to Geissan.[5] SPLM units under his command captured the towns of Kurmuk and Qaissan in 1997.[4]

Agar was close to John Garang, and shared his goal of overthrowing the Government of Sudan, as opposed to fighting for the secession of South Sudan. After Garang's death, Agar, along with others who shared a desire for a revolution in Sudan, were marginalised by the new SPLM leadership. Agar expressed his disapproval of the secession of South Sudan to a US official in 2009, stating that it would cause the eventual splintering of the rest of Sudan.[4]

Post-Civil War

He was elected governor of Blue Nile State in the Republic of the Sudan in April 2010.[6][7] Agar was one of the few high-profile members of the Sudanese opposition to run in the election, and was the only non-National Congress Party (NCP) candidate to win a governorship. Agar defeated the NCP candidate, Farah Ibrahim Mohamed Al-Aggar, by 108,119 to 99,417 votes.[4]

In February 2011 Malik Agar also became chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North, the part of the SPLM that operates in northern Sudan. The southern portion of the SPLM became a separate political party in South Sudan when the country seceded from the Republic of Sudan in July 2011.[8]

On 2 September, Agar was deposed as governor on the orders of President Omar al-Bashir. He fled to the southern part of the state and was reportedly planning a counterattack. He warned that the Sudan–SPLM conflict may ignite a wider Sudanese civil war.[9]

In February 2012 Agar helped found the Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF); a coalition of Sudanese opposition groups that aims to overthrow the Sudanese government and replace it with a democracy.[4] In February 2012, Agar was elected president of the SRF.[10]

On 2 February 2021, he was appointed as a member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan.[11]

Ideology

Agar rejects President Omar al-Bashir's vision of an Arab-Islamic state, and has argued instead for a multicultural civil democracy.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan's Bitter and Incomplete Divorce. Hurst. June 2014. ISBN 9781849044929.
  2. 1 2 "Sudan's Spreading Conflict (II): War in Blue Nile" (PDF). International Crisis Group.
  3. ↑ "Sudan's Burhan dismisses Hemedti of his position". Al Bawaba. Retrieved 2023-05-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Malik Aggar Eyre Gandof". Sudan Tribune. Archived from the original on 20 July 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Young, John (1999). "Along Ethiopia's Western Frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in Transition". The Journal of Modern African Studies. 37 (2): 321–346. ISSN 0022-278X – via JSTOR.
  6. ↑ "SPLM celebrates victory in Blue Nile State" Archived 2010-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011)
  7. ↑ "Blue Nile State". Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2012-03-07.
  8. ↑ "Malik Aggar to head SPLM in the north" Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine, Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011)
  9. ↑ "Sudan declares emergency in Blue Nile state". Al Jazeera English. 3 September 2011. Archived from the original on 4 September 2011. Retrieved 3 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "SRF Sudan". Archived from the original on 2020-04-13. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
  11. ↑ "Sudan Sovereignty Council gains three new members under El Burhan". Radio Dabanga. Archived from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Malik Agar.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.