Daniel Awet Akot

Early life[]

Daniel Awet Akot was born to a Gok Dinka family in Pan-Cum Village, Mayath sub-location, Cueibet County in the present day Lakes State in the Bahr el Ghazal Region in 1940. In 1950 he attended a bush basic school at Warabui Village, and in 1953 he went to Bargel elementary school located west of Cueibet Town. Mr. Akot later studied at Pankar boarding school in Yirol and later at Tonj intermediate school, as well as Rumbek National Secondary School, where he briefly became classmates with Dr. John Garang (his future Commander-in-Chief) before briefly dropping out of school and went to his home village following the outbreak of the first Sudanese Civil war. It was there that he underwent the Dinka rite of passage from childhood to adulthood (Initiation) in which Dinka boys or teenagers' foreheads are marked in cut lines. After a short stay in his home village and cattle camps, Akot, determined to acquire formal education, moved to Khartoum for further studies when it became apparent schools in the then Southern Sudan were interrupted by insecurity and outbreak of the first Sudanese civil war (the Anya-Nya one) and the Sudanese government's subsequent decision to close a number of rural schools and expelled Christian Missionaries who were the main education providers in the Southern region.

Career in the Sudan Armed Forces: After finishing his secondary school studies in Khartoum, Daniel Awet Akot joined the prestigious Sudan Military College in 1969 and graduated with the rank of second lieutenant in the Sudanese Armed forces (SAF) in 1971. He also attended a one year course in Egypt Military Science college. After graduating from the Sudan Military war college, Akot specialized in signals and became part of the Sudan Armed Forces' Signal units and was at different times stationed in El obeid, Gadaref and Khartoum military work stations as he steadily rose in ranks and responsibility. In 1984 he was promoted from a Major to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) and sent to the United States of America where he did an infantry commanders' course, thereby specializing in the 'economy of men for war', which is an skill for effective utilization of limited number of troops and resources to wage a war against a far more numerous and well equipped enemy. These skills later proved advantageous to Lt. Col. Akot's command leadership, who from finishing the course in the United States of America, joined the newly formed Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in Ethiopia in January 1985. The founding Leader of the SPLA, Colonel Dr. John Garang De Mabior, was both a former classmate of Akot at Rumbek National Secondary School and a colleague in the Sudan Armed forces, hence knew and appreciated Akot's military skills and capabilities to lead troops.

Participation in the Second Civil War: Lt. Col. Daniel Awet Akot, on completing a one year Military course in the United States, decided to not return to Khartoum, but rather joined the newly established Rebel Movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army in January 1985 and was warmly welcomed and given a quick tour of frontline at Bukteng in Upper Nile area by the Founding SPLA Chief of General Staff, William Nyuon Bany. Akot observed some lapses in defenses and tactics, which he did not hesitate to point out to Cdr William Nyuon Bany and Cdr Kerubino Kuanyin Bol who was number two in command of the movement. His advice was gracefully received by Cdr William Nyuon and Lt. Col. Akot later joined Dr. Garang and others in the SPLA leadership tour of the communist Island nation of Cuba. After returning from the Cuban tour, Lt. Col. Daniel Awet Akot was given the command of Tuek-Tuek (Woodpecker) battalion of the Muor-Muor (brown Army Ants) Division and sent to Northern Bahr el Ghazal Sub-Region for SPLA military operations. On 15 September 1985, Akot's battalion, while on their way to Bahr el Ghazal, attacked and partly dislodged the Sudanese Armed Forces troops in Bor Town, capturing areas of Langbar, Pakwau and Pan-Nyong Agaany, before he ordered withdrawal as a compliance with the orders of Cdr Arok Thon Arok, his Senior in command who was the SPLA Deputy Chief for Administration and logistics.

Akot and his troops crossed to the western side of the Nile River on their way to their destination, Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Akot, whose radio code names were Amara and Mike Two, received a long range military radio communication from the SPLA Commander-in-Chief, Dr. John Garang, ordering him and his battalion to move fast and intercept an enemy convoy coming out of Rumbek to relieve Yirol Garrison Town. Lt.Col. Akot and his gallant Tuek-Tuek battalion swung into action and scored yet another victory over the Sudanese Armed Forces troops. On 24 December 1985, his forces under the direct command of his Deputy, Captain Peter Wal Athieu, ambushed and decisively annihilated the SAF convoy at Bahr el Naam bridge east of Rumbek Town, sending shockwaves in the ranks and files of the Sudanese Armed forces who until then thought that the SPLA was a mere weakling guerilla force not capable of launching a conventional military attack, they were terribly mistaken and suffered a glaring humiliation in the battlefield. The defeat of the SAF convoy, who were going to relieve their isolated colleagues in Yirol Garrison town, prompted the demoralized SAF troops in Yirol to withdraw and joined their forces in Tali town in Central Equatoria. SPLA morale was at its peak and less than two months later, Rumbek the provincial capital Town of Lakes Province, fell to the Cdr Akot's forces, enthralling Dr. John Garang and the SPLA ranks and files! Akot's legendary Tuek-Tuek battalion forces also decisively defeated yet another SAF convoy at Makak bridge in Cueibet County, west of Rumbek Town, making their name and that of their commander a household name in the villages and cattle camps across the region and beyond.

Lt. Col. Daniel Awet Akot successfully waged the defensive and offensive battles against the Sudan Armed Forces and their affiliated Northern and Southern Militias in Northern Bahr el Ghazal. Given the victories he and his forces scored over the SAF troops, and before he reached his deployment area in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, in July 1986, Dr. Garang the leader of SPLA promoted Lt. Col. Akot as an alternate member of the SPLM/SPLA Politico-Military High Command, the highest governing body of the Movement. Again in 1990, Akot was made the overall SPLA commander of Bahr el Ghazal Region, effectively becoming both the commander and governor of the SPLA controlled areas which was the entire rural homeland of the geographical scope of the region, with the Sudanese government control confined to isolated garrison towns of Wau, Aweil, Raga, Tonj and Rumbek (which the SAF recaptured from SPLA shortly within 1986). Akot led SPLA forces and civil population of the region until 1995 when he was recalled to the general headquarters in Equatoria Region. Even at the time he was the commander of Bahr el Ghazal Region, he reinforced other SPLA units in Unity State (Mayom area and Panaruu), Central and Western Equatoria fronts. He is a decorated and celebrated liberation war hero whose humility, genius guerilla military tactics and unwavering patriotism ensured success in the liberation of South Sudan, as his area of command, Bahr el Ghazal Region, played a pivotal role at the critical years following the internal split within the SPLM/SPLA and the ensued factional in-fighting, 1991-2000, when the region became nearly the sole source of recruits and manpower for SPLA forces' continued struggle for motherland.

Political Positions: When the SPLM/SPLA reorganized and began putting in place civil rule structures, Cdr Akot was appointed the Chairperson of the Law Enforcement and Judiciary commission of the Movement. Following the signing of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005, and the swearing-in of the SPLM/SPLA leader, Dr. Garang as the Sudan's First Vice President on 9 July 2005, Cdr Akot was appointed the Caretaker Governor of Eastern Equatoria State, one of the ten (10) States of South Sudan. When Garang's successor, Cdr Salva kiir Mayardit, succeeded Dr. Garang as leader of the Movement, following the untimely and unfortunate death of Garang in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005, and formed the government of Southern Sudan, Akot was appointed Minister for Police Affairs, effectively the Interior Minister. In 2006, Akot was appointed the Governor of Lakes State, a position he held until early months of 2010 when elections where conducted and a caretaker governor in the person of the Late Telar Ring Takpiny Deng was appointed to oversee elections in the state. Akot was elected to National Legislative Assembly representing Cueibet Geographical Constituency. He became the Deputy Speaker of the South Sudan National Legislative Assembly, a position he held until 2013 when he resigned. in 2016, Akot was appointed Presidential Advisor on Military Affairs, a position he held until 2020. He continue to represent his Cueibet Constitueny in the National Legislative Assembly. General Akot remains a leading member of the SPLM Politburo, the highest leadership committee for the party.

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