Yasir Arman forms new SPLM faction in Sudan

JUBA – The former Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) deputy secretary-general for Northern Sector Yasir Arman has formed a new faction of the group in Sudan, just months after breaking away from the SPLM-North led by Malik Agar.

Following the October 2021 military coup in Sudan which ousted the civilian government of Abdallah Hamdok, Arman was arrested and detained for several months. Following his release, Arman decided to stay away from the SPLM faction led by Malik Agar.

In a statement last week, Arman said he has formed a new faction of the SPLM and that consultations were ongoing for the establishment of the leadership structure of the faction and will represent women by at least 40 percent.

“We will conduct consultations to complete the structure of the Leadership Council, taking into account the 40% representation of women,” Arman said in the statement published by the Paris-based Sudan Tribune this week.

“At its first meeting, the Leadership Council will decide on the nominations submitted for the selection of the Vice-President and the Secretary-General, one of whom shall be a woman, taking into account Sudanese diversity, geography, and competence in all organs of the Movement. The Leadership Council will also ratify the Manifesto and the Constitution,” he added.

Arman said that in the event of his absence, senior member of the new party “Buthaina Ibrahim Dinar will act temporarily as the Chairperson, by virtue of her seniority in the previous Leadership Council until the new Leadership Council convenes.”

Born in Sudan’s Al Jazira State in 1962, Arman is a Sudanese politician who was a leading figure in the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-North) until October 25 2021 when he and others were arrested following the coup that ousted Hamdok’s government.

He was the SPLM deputy secretary-general for northern sector and its spokesman before succession of South Sudan in July 2011 and was the party candidate for the April 2010 presidential election. The party decide to boycott the presidential elections of allegation of monopoly by then ruling NCP party.

Following South Sudan’s independence in 2011, Arman and other senior Sudanese members of the SPLM such as Malik Agar and Abdulaziz Adam al Hilu formed the SPLM-North which he came its secretary-general.

In mid-2017, the SPLM-N split between a faction led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu and one led by Malik Agar and Arman became the new deputy chairman and engaged in peace talks with the Sudanese military following the ouster of Omar el Bashir’s government in 2019.

Arman is also one of the SPLM leaders who helped draft and sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the war between the north and south of Sudan in 2005. He was also the SPLM Chief Whip in parliament following the comprehensive peace agreement.