Gossip-Based Intelligence and Organisational Fragmentation: The Case of the SPLM/A, 1983-2005 - Insider Reflections on Rebel Military Intelligence in South Sudan".

This study examined gossip-based intelligence and its impact on the organisation taking SPLM/A military intelligence as its case study. This study draws primarily on the author's personal experiences accumulated over more than four decades of service within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). As an insider who held multiple positions in the Movement's military and intelligence structures, the author had direct access to decision-making processes, internal dynamics, and organisational practices that are otherwise undocumented. In this sense, the paper treats the author's testimony as a form of primary source material, comparable to a memoir or ethnographic field notes, but subjected to analytical scrutiny. By combining insider testimony with scholarly analysis, the paper contributes to the emerging literature on rebel governance, military intelligence, and the organisational consequences of informal practices such as gossip. The study conceptualised military intelligence and political conspiracy theories to link gossip, intelligence, and political conspiracy. The study concludes that gossip-based intelligence misleads leaders to make decisions that are harmful to the organisation and recommends the establishment of a strong oversight mechanism to avoid future recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]