7 October Movement

7 October Movement
Founding leaderKerbino Wol Agok
LeaderUnknown
Dates of operationJune 5, 2020 - present
MotivesCitizens' Revolution
Active regionsSouth Sudan
Size1,000[1]
OpponentsSouth Sudan South Sudan People's Defense Forces

The 7 October Movementa is a South Sudanese opposition group founded by Kerbino Wol Agok. Wol, a businessman and philanthropist, was detained by the National Security Service without a charge in April 2018. He started a riot in the National Security Headquarters, or Blue House, on October 7, 2018, from which the group gets its name, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. However, he was pardoned by president Salva Kiir in January 2020.[2] Wol announced that he had founded the movement on June 5, 2020, and at that time claimed to have 1,000 men in the rural areas of South Sudan.[1] Wol claimed that many members of the movement fought under John Garang in the Second Sudanese Civil War, and also that many of them had been prisoners in the Blue House. The group is opposed to the current leadership, which the 7 October Movement believes have kept South Sudan in poverty, as well as the National Security Service and the current prison system, which the group believes is unjust.[3]

Less than two weeks after the movement was announced, on June 14, 2020, Kerbino Wol Agok was killed, leaving the future of the group uncertain. According to the South Sudan People's Defense Forces, Wol was killed in a clash at Ayen Mayar village in Rumbek East County in Lakes State along with three other 7 October Movement fighters. One civilian was also killed and two others were wounded in the clash.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b "South Sudan Businessman Takes Up Arms | Voice of America - English". www.voanews.com. 6 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  2. ^ "Businessman Kerbino Wol forms rebel group". Radio Tamazuj. 8 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  3. ^ "Our Cause: Manifesto of the 7 October Movement" (PDF). 12 April 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-06-09.
  4. ^ "Army says it killed Kerbino Wol". Radio Tamazuj. 15 June 2020. Retrieved 2020-06-17.
  5. ^ "South Sudan army kills new rebel leader in Lakes State - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan". www.sudantribune.com. 28 July 2011. Retrieved 2020-06-17.