During the period over the 2011 referendum and independence, there were new political attempts to reconfigure alliances. Machar sought to build a pan-Greater Upper Nile constituency to give him a support base through which to claim leadership. To do this, Machar needed reconciliation with the Dinka Bor community and in Unity State. In relation to the Dinka Bor, in 2012, Machar publicly apologised to the Dinka Bor community, seeking a reconciled relationship. Many in Bor had blamed Machar for the 1991 Bor massacre that killed thousands of Dinka in south-east Jonglei (Garang’s home area) after the defection of Machar from Garang’s SPLA in 1991.
1 Discussion with young men from Bor, 2011, Juba. Having contributed many men to the SPLA from its inception, the Dinka Bor are a powerful constituency in the SPLA/M and in Greater Upper Nile. While some in Bor were sceptical of Machar’s apology, Garang’s widow accepted the apology. Reconciliation efforts also started in Unity State. In late 2010, Taban Deng, Machar and Monytuil came together in a reconciliation conference.
2 Craze et al., ‘A State of Disunity’, page 31. In 2012, Machar tried to convene a reconciliation conference on the Unity, Warrap and Lakes border, in the border region of Madol. In August 2012, Paulino Matip died. By the end of 2012 and a few months after Matip’s death, Machar was actively organising to hold one of the first national reconciliation conferences in Mayom. Plans were nurtured through that year, with budgets for such efforts apparently approved by the Council of Ministers in late 2012.
3 Speech by Angelina Teng, at IGAD-organised peace symposium in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), 22 June 2013. However, Machar’s focus on politically important constituencies prompted President Kiir to fear his motivations and end these attempts.