In a very interesting interview with the former Foreign Minister and south Sudanese leader Dr. Lam Akol with al-Arabiya’s “Political Memory” program, he revealed that the Popular Movement led by Dr. John Garang did not have any political office until the period of the peace talks and that its foreign contacts were very limited during the period of its association with the Ethiopian regime of former Ethiopian President Mangistu and that the US administration was avoiding dealing with it because of its socialist orientations and denied any connection to the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement with Israel, and blamed Sudan applying of the Islamic law in the country, in turning the southern rebellion into a libration movement.
Akol revealed that the United States wanted John Garang to assume the presidency of a united Sudan, in return some African countries were secretly pushing the popular movement toward secession.
Akol also spoke about the circumstances that accompanied the movement’s founding in 1983 in South Sudan, and how some used army formations and transfers to incite the late Sudanese President Jaafar al-Nimeiri.
Akol stated that only
“Libya, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Yemen and Cuba helped train,” he said.
