Lam Akol Ajawin, is a

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

ese politician of Shilluk descent. He is the current leader of National Democratic Movement (NDM) party. He is a former high-ranking official in the

Sudan People's Liberation Army The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), 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 parti ...

(SPLA), and subsequently became the Foreign Minister of Sudan from September 2005 to October 2007, when the Khartoum government offered the SPLA several other key ministries as part of a peace agreement.

Early life

Akol was born on 15 July 1950 in Athidhwoi, Upper Nile. He received a Ph.D. in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and taught at the

University of Khartoum The University of Khartoum (U of K) () is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 1956 when Sudan gained independen ...

SPLA

Akol joined the SPLA in 1986 after having been a clandestine member since October 1983. In 1991 he joined

Riek Machar Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who has served as the vice president of South Sudan on several occasions, most recently as the first vice president, since 2020. A member of the Nuer ethnic group ...

and Gordon Kong to break from the SPLA and form the

SPLA-Nasir The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer people, Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in A ...

. On 5 April 1993, after they were joined by

William Nyuon Bany William Nyuon Bany Machar (1930 – 13 January 1996) was a South Sudan, Southern Sudanese politician who was also one of the founders of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). He was appointed third in command after John Garang and Kerubino Ku ...

and they joined forces with another faction under Kerubino Kwanyin Bol, the name of their faction was changed to SPLA-United. Akol was dismissed by Machar in February 1994 and became chairman of one faction of SPLM/A-United following unity with senior SPLA commanders who were under detention by orders of

John Garang John Garang De Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M, Now known as South Sudan People's Defense Forces) as a co ...

. He subsequently signed the Fashoda Peace Agreement with the government in 1997 and was appointed in March 1998 Sudan's Minister of Transportation, a post he held for four years. In 2002 Akol resigned from the ruling National Congress (NCP), and became a key member of the newly-formed opposition Justice Party. He, with most of his forces, rejoined the SPLA in October 2003.John Young
''The South Sudan Defence Forces in the Wake of the Juba Declaration''
HSBA Issue Brief No. 2 (October 2006), p. 15 In 2005 Akol wrote a piece detailing his role as a negotiator on behalf of Garang in the initiation of

Operation Lifeline Sudan Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) was a consortium of United Nations agencies (mainly UNICEF and the World Food Programme)Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

, and appointed Deng Alor, a leading SPLM member (member of the SPLM political bureau) who had previously been the Minister of Cabinet Affairs, to replace Akol as Foreign Minister. In May 7, 2025, Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin was appointed as the minister of Transport from the

South Sudan Opposition Alliance The South Sudan Opposition Alliance is a coalition of political parties and armed groups in South Sudan that opposed the government of President of South Sudan, President Salva Kiir. It was formed in February 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by ni ...

(SSOA) coalition.

Bibliography

* * *

References

AKOL, Lam
International Who's Who.
Kiir names Dr. Lam Akol Transport Minister in cabinet reshuffle

Early life

SPLA

Bibliography

References

Further reading