At the age of six or seven years old, Emmanuel became a soldier for the Sudan People's Liberation Army.
VOA: special.2009.10.14
The recent violence flared between supporters of two different rebel groups, a faction of the SudanLiberationArmy (SLA), led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, and the Liberty and Justice Movement (LJM).
Significantly, the other most important rebel group, the SudanLiberationArmy faction led by Abdul Wahid al-Nur, has condemned the JEM agreement and still refuses to negotiate with Mr Bashir's government at all.
At first this was a straightforward battle pitting the Sudanese army, together with the Arab militias, the infamous janjaweed, against two main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement and the SudanLiberationArmy.