SUMMARY
The National Salvation Front/Movement (NAS) was a rebel group that sought to overthrow the government of South Sudan and establish federalism. The group was formed by Thomas Cirillo Swaka in the Greater Equatoria region of South Sudan on 6 March 2017. The group was initially operating in Central Equatoria state, but later spread to East and West Equatoria states.
Thomas Cirillo Swaka, commonly referred as Cirillo, was the deputy chief of general staff for logistics in the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan’s People Liberation Army (SPLA). He formed NAS after he resigned in February 2017, accusing President Salva Kiir of mismanagement of country’s resources, mistreating the civilian population by the security forces, and ethnic favoritism within the military rankings. Shortly after the formation of NAS, the leader of SSDM/A - Cobra Faction (South Sudan Defense Movement/Army – Cobra Faction), Khalid Botrus Bora, announced that he decided to dissolve the group in order to merge his forces with NAS, and he called all the armed opposition groups within South Sudan to join forces together to overthrow the government. On 21 December 2017, NAS signed the agreement of Cessation of Hostilities, Protection of Civilians and Human Access, which meant to avoid armed confrontation in the region. However, NAS continued fighting after the agreement.
In February 2018, together with eight armed groups, NAS formed an alliance called South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA). Cirillo was a member of the leadership council. In August 2018, high-ranking officials of NAS, led by Khalid Botrus Bora decided to restructure the leadership and to depose Cirillo for refusing to sign the peace agreement with the government and further claimed that the decision-making process within the group was solely under Cirillo. They announced that they made the decision of signing the peace agreement as the leaders of NAS. However, Cirillo refused to restructure the group and to sign the peace agreement, hence dismissed the officials who conspired the plan. This resulted in the first breakaway group from NAS, under the leadership of Khalid Botrus Bora (NAS-KB). Soon after their split, NAS-KB signed the peace agreement called Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) with the government. Another breakaway group from NAS emerged which was called Equatoria Non-Allied Forces (ENAF) under the leadership of Moses Yanga Yoana. ENAF signed a peace agreement with the government in February 2019. The third NAS splinter group formed on 30 November 2020 under the name of Democratic Resistance Movement (DRM), which consisted of former NAS members. Dr. Lado Jada Kwaiok formed the group a month after he resigned from his position in NAS, accusing NAS leadership of abandoning the movement’s objectives and principles.
On 24 September 2018, NAS formed South Sudan National Democratic Alliance (SSNDA) together with the members of SSOA which did not sign the R-ARCSS with the government. However, on 30 August 2019, SSNDA was dissolved and merged with several other rebel groups to form a new coalition called South Sudan Opposition Movements Alliance (SSOMA). On 13 January 2020, SSOMA signed a declaration of principles with the government, which meant that, members of SSOMA agreed on further reconciliation and stabilization, and agreed to avoid armed confrontation by recommitting themselves to the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement, which was signed in December 2017. This was an important step towards a peace agreement. Although initially the declaration of principles prompted a decrease in violence, NAS and forces of government of South Sudan resumed clashes in June 2020.
NAS has been involved in the intrastate and non-state categories of UCDP organized violence.
