2014 retreat from Western Bahr el Ghazal

The 2014 retreat from Western Bahr el Ghazal, also called the long march north, was an unorganized withdrawal by hundreds of Nuer Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) deserters who sought to flee from Bahr el Ghazal to Sudan during the South Sudanese Civil War. After longstanding tensions between SPLA soldiers belonging to the Dinka and Nuer ethnic groups escalated on 25 April 2014, leading to a massacre of Nuer soldiers at Mapel in Western Bahr el Ghazal, a large number of Nuer SPLA soldiers deserted to escape ethnic prosecution and loyalist SPLA forces. Though some deserters joined SPLM-IO rebels or surrendered to the government, a large number of them marched northward, joined by other SPLA defectors from Northern Bahr el Ghazal. After covering over 400 kilometres (250 mi), this trek eventually arrived in Sudan on 4 August 2014, where they were disarmed.

2014 retreat from Western Bahr el Ghazal
Part of the South Sudanese Civil War, and the ethnic violence in South Sudan
Date25 April – 4 August 2014
(3 months, 1 week and 3 days)
Location
Western and Northern Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan
Result
  • 500+ deserters reach Sudan
  • Some deserters join rebels
  • Hundreds of deserters surrender
Belligerents

 South Sudan

  • SPLA

Nuer SPLA deserters


SPLM-IO
Commanders and leaders
Brig. Gen. Bak Akoon Bak
(Mechanized Division)
Kuel Aguer Kuel
(Northern Bahr el Ghazal governor)
Rizig Zachariah Hassan
(Western Bahr el Ghazal governor)
  • Brig Gen. Gatwech Gach Makuach
  • Brig Gen. James Ochan Puot
  • Brig Gen. Kuang Cirang 
  • Brig Gen. Kuol Tap
  • Brig. Gen. Peter Gatbel 
  • One unidentified Nuer brigadier general
Units involved

SPLA

Several groups
Strength
Thousands Disputed; at least several hundreds
Casualties and losses
Many killed Hundreds killed, hundreds surrendered
Thousands of civilians displaced
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