
Name: Riek Machar Teny | Riak Machar Teny
Title: Dr.
Positions:
Born: Leer County, Unity State, South Sudan
Education: Engineering, University of Khartoum; PhD in Philosophy and Strategic Planning, University of Bradford, UK, 1984.
Family: Machar is married to Angelina Teny who contested the Unity State gubernatorial election in 2010 loosing to incumbent Governor Taban Deng Gai in controversial circumstances.
He was also briefly married to British aid worker Emma McCune until her death in a car crash in Nairobi, Kenya in 1993.
Background
Tensions between Machar and Kiir
In April 2013 President Salva Kiir issued a presidential ordered the suspension of a proposed national reconciliation conference, until he formed his own committee that would prepare for the event. Machar had been tasked to oversee the event but this was scrapped when Kiir issued a controversial order on withdrawing unspecified delegated powers from his deputy.
Kiir’s decision is believed to have been takem because the two leaders couldn’t agree on the timing and agenda for the reconciliation.
A source told Sudan Tribune the president wanted the process delayed and also restricted to reconciling communities that experienced violent conflicts, while Machar wanted the process to kick off this year and also address issues of tribalism, good governance, justice, development, distribution of resources, land grabbing, among others, which he argued were some of the factors that caused disharmony in the country.
The matter is believed to have been worsened by Machar’s recent declaration to challenge the South Sudan leader in the ruling party’s contest for the SPLM’s chairmanship in the upcoming convention. This caused Kiir to be suspect that Machar wanted to use the reconciliation process as a campaign to gain more popularity among the South Sudanese public.
Links
The following ads are provided by Google. SudanTribune has no authority on it.


Latest Comments & Analysis
Alex de Waal: the rebirth of a principled activist? 2013-06-20 03:33:50 By Monim El-Jak June 19, 2013 - Whenever Alex de Waal publishes analysis or reflections, Sudanese intellectuals and activists, and the concerned international institutions and individuals, give (...)
On Abyei enough is enough 2013-06-18 05:01:47 By Deng Vanang June 17, 2013 - No one whether locally or internationally can still argue there is more hope to resolve Abyei stalemate peacefully. It has been everybody’s wish that dialogue could (...)
The arming of rebels in Sudan and South Sudan: what is the evidence? 2013-06-18 04:57:44 By Eric Reeves 17 June 2013 - News reporting in general, a great deal of analytic writing, and virtually all diplomatic pronouncements about military support for rebel groups—in South Sudan and (...)
MORE