28/08/2026
🇸🇸 28 AUGUST 1991 — A DATE THAT SHOULD NEVER BE FORGOTTEN IN SOUTH SUDAN’S HISTORY 🇸🇸
Lou Nuer Press| Historical Reflection
Every nation has moments that change the course of its history. For South Sudan, 28 August 1991 remains one of the most significant and controversial dates in the history of the liberation struggle.
On 28 August 1991, in Nasir, Upper Nile, Dr. Riek Machar Teny, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, and Gordon Kong Chuol publicly announced what became known as the Nasir Declaration.
The declaration emerged during a period of deep political and military disagreements within the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA), then led by Dr. John Garang de Mabior.
📜 THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND
The SPLM/SPLA had been established in 1983, following the resumption of armed struggle against the government in Khartoum. Under John Garang, the movement promoted the vision of a united but fundamentally transformed Sudan, commonly known as the “New Sudan” vision.
The idea was to transform Sudan into a democratic, secular and inclusive state in which all peoples would enjoy equality and political rights.
However, not all Southern Sudanese leaders agreed with this political direction.
By 1991, disagreements over leadership, democracy, human rights, military strategy and the political objective of the liberation struggle had become increasingly serious.
📍 THE NASIR DECLARATION
On 28 August 1991, Riek Machar, Lam Akol and Gordon Kong announced the split from Garang’s leadership from Nasir.
The declaration called for major political changes within the liberation movement, including:
- Greater democracy and political participation.
- Respect for human rights.
- Changes to the leadership and organization of the movement.
- Recognition of the right of the people of Southern Sudan to determine their political future.
- Self-determination, including the possibility of an independent Southern Sudan.
The declaration therefore introduced a fundamentally different political emphasis from the New Sudan vision.
Instead of primarily seeking to transform Sudan as a whole, it placed self-determination and the possibility of independence for Southern Sudan at the center of the political debate.
⚠️ A CONTROVERSIAL TURNING POINT
The Nasir split did not immediately unite the South behind one political program.
Instead, the SPLM/SPLA conflict became more complicated, and divisions emerged along political, military and community lines.
The period that followed was marked by serious violence, internal fighting, displacement and suffering among civilians.
The history of the Nasir period must therefore be discussed honestly. It cannot be remembered only as a milestone toward independence while ignoring the suffering and divisions that accompanied the period.
At the same time, it is historically important because the question of self-determination and independence became much more prominent in the political struggle.
🕊️ FROM NASIR TO INDEPENDENCE
The road from 1991 to independence was neither straight nor simple.
The liberation struggle continued through the 1990s, despite internal divisions. Political and military developments eventually contributed to renewed efforts to reunify the Southern Sudanese movement.
In 2002, the SPLM/SPLA and the Government of Sudan entered a new phase of negotiations.
These negotiations ultimately produced the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005.
The CPA ended more than two decades of devastating civil war between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM/SPLA.
Most importantly, the agreement recognized the right of the people of Southern Sudan to exercise self-determination through a referendum after a six-year transitional period.
🗳️ THE 2011 REFERENDUM
In January 2011, the people of Southern Sudan went to the polls to decide their political future.
The result was overwhelming.
Approximately 98.83% of voters chose secession from Sudan.
The referendum transformed the political vision that had been debated for decades into a clear popular mandate for independence.
🇸🇸 9 JULY 2011 — INDEPENDENCE
On 9 July 2011, the Republic of South Sudan officially became an independent nation.
Twenty years had passed since the Nasir Declaration.
Therefore, 28 August 1991 was not the day South Sudan became independent. Independence came on 9 July 2011 through a long and painful historical process involving armed struggle, political negotiations, the CPA, the referendum and enormous sacrifices by millions of people.
But the events of Nasir remain part of that history.
🕯️ REMEMBERING THE PEOPLE
South Sudan’s history should not belong to one tribe, one political movement, one military faction or one individual.
It belongs to all the people who sacrificed, suffered, fought, displaced, lost loved ones and continued to dream of freedom.
From the Anyanya struggle, to the formation of the SPLM/SPLA, to the events of Nasir, the long civil wars, the peace negotiations, the 2005 CPA, the 2011 referendum and finally independence—each chapter contributed to the complicated journey that created South Sudan.
The lessons of 1991 should therefore be studied seriously.
28 August should be remembered—not to reopen old wounds, but to understand them. Not to glorify conflict, but to learn from it. And not to divide South Sudanese, but to remind future generations of the enormous price paid for self-determination.
🇸🇸 The history of South Sudan is bigger than any individual, tribe or political faction.
We must remember the past, learn from it and build a peaceful future worthy of those who sacrificed for freedom.
