South Sudan People's Defence Forces

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The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), also called Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M), is the military force of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key participant of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the subsequent independence of South Sudan. It was led by John Garang, who died in 2005 and was succeeded by Salva Kiir. As of 2010, the SPLA was divided into divisions of 10,000–14,000 soldiers. Following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, the last remaining large and well-equipped militia, the South Sudan Defence Forces (SSDF), under General Paulino Matiep, signed an agreement with Kiir known as the Juba Declaration, which amalgamated the two forces under the SPLA banner. Following South Sudan's independence in 2011, Kiir became President and the SPLA became the new republic's regular army. In May 2017 there was a restructure and the...

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