Flag of the South Sudan People Defense Forces. Courtesy

The government has declared Monday, May 17, 2021, a public holiday.

This is to commemorate the 38th anniversary of the founding of the SPLM/SPLA.

The day is marked on May 16, every year, but the government said moving it to Monday is because the holiday falls on a Sunday and coincides with the end of the Ramadan holidays that was already announced by the Ministry of Labor.

According to the Minister of Information, Michael Makuei, President Kiir directed that work begins on Tuesday, May 18 to allow South Sudanese to pay homage to the martyrs.

SPLM/SPLA Brief

In May 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 comprised the Ground Force, Air Force, Air Defence Forces, and Presidential Guard.