Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the South Sudan Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
He took command of the movement after John Garang's death and has been the country's president since independence in 2011.
Salva Kiir Mayardit joined the southern Sudanese insurgency as a young man in the Anyanya war of the 1960s, was absorbed into the Sudanese army under the 1972 peace agreement, and was among the officers who mutinied at Bor in 1983 to found the Sudan People's Liberation Army with John Garang.
He spent the war as Garang's deputy and chief of general staff, and was the SPLA's principal military organiser. Where Garang argued for a reformed united Sudan, Kiir consistently held out for southern independence, and the two came close to a rupture in 2004 before it was patched up.
When Garang died three weeks after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement took effect, Kiir succeeded him — and the movement did not fracture, which at that moment was not a given. He led the south through the interim period, delivered the January 2011 referendum in which almost ninety-nine per cent voted to secede, and became the first president of the Republic of South Sudan on 9 July 2011. He is rarely seen without the black cowboy hat given to him by George W. Bush.
He spent the war as Garang's deputy and chief of general staff, and was the SPLA's principal military organiser. Where Garang argued for a reformed united Sudan, Kiir consistently held out for southern independence, and the two came close to a rupture in 2004 before it was patched up.
When Garang died three weeks after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement took effect, Kiir succeeded him — and the movement did not fracture, which at that moment was not a given. He led the south through the interim period, delivered the January 2011 referendum in which almost ninety-nine per cent voted to secede, and became the first president of the Republic of South Sudan on 9 July 2011. He is rarely seen without the black cowboy hat given to him by George W. Bush.
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