1. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon was born on 26 November 1952 and is a South Sudanese politician who has served as the vice president of South Sudan on several occasions, most recently as the first vice president, since 2020.
36 Facts About Riek Machar
1. 2.
Later that year, Riek Machar was involved in the Bor Massacre, in which his forces took part in the massacre of at least 2,000 Dinka civilians.
3.
In February 2020, Riek Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalized peace agreement with Salva Kiir, the current President of South Sudan.
4.
Riek Machar is the head of the rebel faction known as SPLM-IO that was founded in 2014 following the 2013 war outbreak and has been historically in opposition to Kiir.
5.
Between April and July 2016 Riek Machar served as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
6.
Riek Machar is designated to be the First Vice President according to the new "revitalized" peace agreement signed in September 2018.
7.
Dr Riek Machar will take up the post of First Vice President when the new unity government is formed, initially in February 2019, but later delayed until February 2020.
Related searches
John Garang 8.
Riek Machar became vice-president of South Sudan on 9 July 2011 when the country became independent, but was dismissed from office by President Salva Kiir Mayardit on 23 July 2016.
9.
Riek Machar was re-appointed as First Vice-president of South Sudan on 22 February 2020 as part of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity.
10.
Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon was born in Leer, Unity State on 26 November 1952, the 27th son of the chief of Ayod and Leer.
11.
Riek Machar was brought up as a member of the Presbyterian church.
12.
Riek Machar belongs to the Dok section of the Nuer Bentiu people.
13.
Riek Machar trained as an engineer at Khartoum University, and obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bradford in 1984.
14.
Riek Machar has tried to transcend tribal divisions, and at one time attempted to ban initiation marks.
15.
Riek Machar died in a car accident in Nairobi in 1993 at the age of 29, while pregnant.
16.
Riek Machar was state minister of Energy and Mining in the transitional government.
17.
Riek Machar led forces that attacked and overran Melut in 1989.
18.
Riek Machar disagreed with the SPLA leader John Garang over objectives.
19.
Where John Garang at first wanted a secular and democratic but united Sudan in which the southerners would have full representation, Riek Machar wanted a fully independent South Sudan.
20.
Riek Machar dismissed Lam Akol from the SPLA-United in February 1994.
21.
Riek Machar dismissed Kerubino Kuanyin and Commander William Nyuon Bany from the SSIM on the basis that they had signed military and political agreements with the government of Sudan late in the previous year, and that they had attempted to form a government-supported faction in the SSIM.
22.
In 1996 Riek Machar signed a Political Charter and in 1997 the Khartoum Peace Agreement with the government.
23.
Riek Machar was made commander in chief of the South Sudan Defense Force, which included most of the ex-rebels who had signed the Khartoum agreement.
24.
Riek Machar's SSDF began to receive ammunition from the SPLA as of June 1999.
25.
At risk in his own homeland of the Dok Nuer, Riek Machar moved his base of operations to the eastern Jikany area.
Related searches
John Garang 26.
On 15 July 2011 Riek Machar represented South Sudan at the ceremony when his country's flag was raised outside United Nations headquarters in New York.
27.
Riek Machar said that Kiir's move was a step towards dictatorship.
28.
Riek Machar fled the capital after renewed fighting between the Kiir loyalists and his own loyalists Juba in July 2016.
29.
Riek Machar said any talks would be illegal because he had fired Gai.
30.
In October 2017, Riek Machar was under house arrest in South Africa.
31.
Riek Machar returned to Juba in October 2018 following a peace deal that was signed in September 2018.
32.
Riek Machar was appointed First Vice-president of South Sudan on 22 February 2020 as part of the Revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity.
33.
Riek Machar argued that their presence violated and endangered the 2018 peace agreement.
34.
Foreign Policy wrote that Riek Machar had been de facto stripped of authority.
35.
The South Sudanese government charged Riek Machar with plotting rebellion, accusing him of agitating for civil war to prevent upcoming national elections.
36.
Riek Machar had been suspected of supporting the Nuer White Army in its fight against the South Sudanese military.