Salva Kiir Mayardit Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Sudanese civil wars == [[File:Salva Kiir-3, by Stein Ove Korneliussen.jpg|thumb|left|Salva Kiir Mayardit in [[military uniform]]]] In the late 1960s, Kiir joined the [[Anyanya]] battalion in the [[First Sudanese Civil War]]. By the time of the 1972 [[Addis Ababa Agreement (1972)|Addis Ababa Agreement]], he was a low-ranking officer.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4738295.stm|title=Profile: Salva Kiir|work=[[BBC News]]|date=2 August 2005|access-date=26 January 2010}}</ref> In 1983, when [[John Garang]] joined an army [[mutiny]] he had been sent to put down, Kiir and other Southern leaders joined the rebel [[Sudan People's Liberation Movement]] (SPLM) in the [[Second Sudanese Civil War|second civil war]]. Garang De Mabior had advanced military knowledge and experience from both the United States and Sudan, and Kiir served as his deputy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Douglas H.|author-link=Douglas H. Johnson|year=2003|title=The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars|publisher=[[Indiana University Press]]|isbn=0-253-21584-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U-PuCbRr4tcC&q=The+Root+Causes+of+Sudan%27s+Civil+Wars|page=66}}</ref> In 1997, Kiir commanded the SPLA troops that took part in [[Operation Thunderbolt (1997)|Operation Thunderbolt]], a very successful rebel offensive during which most of [[Western Equatoria]] was captured by the SPLA.{{sfnp|LeRiche|Arnold|2013|p=104}} Kiir eventually rose to head the SPLA, the SPLM's military wing when Dr. John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash. Rumours to remove Kiir from his post as SPLA Chief of Staff in 2004 nearly caused the organization to split.<ref name=BBC/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page