Gen. Kuol Manyang Juuk, one of the Deputy Chairpersons of SPLM and Senior Presidential Advisor - Credit: Office of the President - August 31, 2022

As South Sudan marks the 41st anniversary of 16 May also known as SPLA Day, senior presidential advisor and veteran politician Kuol Manyang Juuk has called on soldiers to enforce law and order in their units and respect the civil population.

Koul said  the SPLA day is a  reminder of loyalty and determination when liberators demonstrated sacrifices and discipline during the struggle for the independence of the country.

He said soldiers and members of the other organized forces should emulate the SPLA struggle and be united for the common good of the civil population.

“I want the army and the organized forces all including the police to continue doing their level best to build the nation because if there is insecurity, even they, will also not enjoy it because it affects everybody.

“I want to tell them to help President Salva and implement the constitution which is their mandate to respect the civil population.

” Because the duty of the officers is also to educate those who are under them, to control them, and enforce law and order within their units because they are they are back bone of governance.

“They are the protectors of the people and the nation. They should not be the one violating the laws. This is my message to the soldiers.”

The SPLA Day is marked on May 16, every year.

It is to recall when in 1983 some mutinies broke out in the barracks of the Sudanese army in the southern regions, most notably in Bor, and also at Ayod, Pochalla, Wangkai, and Pibor.

The mutinies were commanded by Major Kerubino Kuanyin Bol and Major William Nyuon Bany.

On May 16th, 1983, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army was founded, with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement as its political wing.

John Garang de Mabior was made its first chairman and Commander-in-Chief.

Kerbino Kuanyin was appointed the second-ranking Commander, and William Nyuon its third in command.

The SPLM/SPLA aimed to establish an autonomous Southern Sudan, initially within a united Sudan.

In 1984, the first full-fledged SPLA battalion graduated in the village of Bilpam.

The name ‘Bilpam’ carried great symbolic importance for SPLA as the epicenter of the uprising.

After Bilpam, other SPLA training camps were established at Dimma, Bonga, and Panyido.

Its military actions against the Sudanese government became the Second Sudanese Civil War that would last until 2005.

After South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, the SPLA became the army of the new country.

The SPLA was renamed the South Sudan People’s Defense Force, SSPDF, in 2018, partly after the SPLA splintered into so many groups fighting each other from 2013 and 2016.

As of 2019, the SSPDF comprises the Ground Force, Air Force, Air Defense Forces, and Presidential Guard.