 Early in 1995 Machar dismissed Bol and Bany from his South Sudan Independence Movement (SSIM) on the basis that they had signed military and political agreements with the government of Sudan late in the previous year, and that they had attempted to form a government-supported faction in the SSIM.The Sudan government tried to make Bol a leader in his home province, but he was not successful in gaining support of the local Dinka, and members of his militia returned to their villages.In January 1998 Bol's forces briefly seized Wau, the main town in Bahr al Ghazal.