Malik Agar

Early life

Malik Agar was born Nganyofa Agar Eyre Nganyofa to an Ingessana chief in Baw District, Blue Nile State in 1952. He did not know he was a Muslim until he was eight. His school teacher gave him the name "Malik" and told him he was a Muslim. From then on, he was called "Malik Agar Eyre".

Second Sudanese Civil War

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

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. SPLM units under his command captured the towns of Kurmuk and Qaissan in 1997.

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.

Post-civil war

He was elected governor of Blue Nile State in the Republic of the Sudan in April 2010. 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 8,702 votes.

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.

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.

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. In February 2012, Agar was elected president of the SRF.

In mid-2017, Agar split from the mainstream faction of the SPLM–N led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu. A key factor motivating the split was that al-Hilu's group insisted on including the establishment of a secular state in negotiations with the al-Bashir government of the time, while Agar's group disagreed. In the 2019–2020 Sudanese Revolution phase of the Sudanese peace process, al-Hilu's group continued to insist on secularisation of the state as a requirement for a peace deal.

In February 2021, Agar was appointed as a member of the Sovereignty Council of Sudan. In the ongoing civil war, Agar has supported the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in opposition to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the SPLM–N of al-Hilu.

Ideology

Agar rejects former president Omar al-Bashir's Arab-Islamic nationalism, and has argued instead for a secular and multicultural civil democracy.

References

References

1. [https://www.wilsoncenter.org/person/he-malik-agar-eyre "H. E. Malik Agar Eyre"]. Wilson Center.
2. [https://blnews.net/2024/04/arrival-of-commander-malik-agar-vice-president-of-the-transitional-sovereignty-council-to-the-blue-nile-state-he-was-received-by-governor-ahmed-al-amada-of-the-blue-nile-state-along-with-several-m/ "Arrival of Commander Malik Agar, Vice president of the Transitional Sovereignty Council, to the Blue Nile State. He was received by Governor Ahmed Al-Amada of the Blue Nile State, along with several members of the regional government, leaders of the People’s Army, and political and community leaders."]. 9 April 2024. ''blnews.net''. Brown Land News.
3. [https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en/news/article/splm-north-agar-faction-fires-secretary-general "SPLM-North Agar faction fires secretary-general"]. 10 June 2021. ''radiotamazuj.org/en''. Radio Tamazuj
4. "مالك عقّار.. من قائد للتمرد إلى منصب الرجل الثاني في هرم الحكم بالسودان".
5. (2014). "A Poisonous Thorn in Our Hearts: Sudan and South Sudan's Bitter and Incomplete Divorce". Hurst.
6. "Sudan's Spreading Conflict (II): War in Blue Nile". [[International Crisis Group]].
7. "Sudan's Burhan dismisses Hemedti of his position".
8. "Malik Aggar Eyre Gandof".
9. Young, John. (1999). "Along Ethiopia's Western Frontier: Gambella and Benishangul in Transition". The Journal of Modern African Studies.
10. link. (2010-12-24 , Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011))
11. "Blue Nile State".
12. link. (2016-03-05 , Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Moverment (accessed 21 March 2011))
13. (3 September 2011). "Sudan declares emergency in Blue Nile state".
14. "SRF Sudan".
15. (12 January 2020). "Al-Mahdi rejects linking peace in Sudan to secular state". [[Sudan Tribune]].
16. (5 February 2021). "Sudan Sovereignty Council gains three new members under El Burhan".
17. "Sudan's Burhan sacks paramilitary leader as his deputy". [[BBC]].