Gabriel Shadar - Khartoum 

Differences among southern political parties are not uncommon, and continued throughout different phases Sudan’s modern history.

Following the incidents of Torit 1955 and the declaration of the South Sudan Liberation Movement in the sixties, lead by Fr Saturnino Ohure, Joseph Oduho and Willliam Deng among others, southern politics witnessed ups and downs.

The wrangling and tangling was mainly about leadership and seniority rather than disparities of political views.

The differences were only kept at bay as General Joseph Lagu assumed political and military leadership of the South Sudan Liberation Movement and led the South Sudan Liberation Movement to sign Addis Ababa Agreement with Jaafar Numeiri on the third of March 1972.

Although differences among southerners were mostly settled through dialogue and political compromise, there have times of deadly confrontations and feuds to the extent that some analysts say conflicts among opposing elements in southern Sudan have cost lives more than the conflict with the north.

With the signing of Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, a south-south dialogue in Karen, Nairobi in Kenya failed as the South Sudan Coordination Council boycotted it, saying that the SPLM excluded other parties.

The SPLM had the opinion that south-south dialogue should involve parties out of the government.

The integration of the so-called other armed groups into the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in 2006 is considered the greatest achievement of south-south dialogue.