Malik Agar is a former cadre of the South Sudanese rebellion. He signed a peace agreement with Khartoum in 2020.

He was appointed by General al-Burhan No. 2 of the regime in May 2023. He is part of an ethnic group called the Ingessana and was a senior commander of the SPLA. He has a military force of about a thousand fighters. Jok Madut Jok: "al-burhan must have thought that Malik Agar would allow him to have influence in Juba"