Bona Malwal | |
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Born | Bona Malwal Madut Ring 1928 (age 95–96) |
Education | Indiana University (1963) Columbia University (BA & MA, 1969) |
Occupations |
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Organization(s) | St Antony's College, Oxford Columbia University |
Political party | Jieng Council of Elders Southern Sudan Democratic Forum Southern Front |
Movement | South Sudanese self-determination |
Opponents | |
Board member of |
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Spouse | Salwa Gabriel Berberi |
Parent |
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Minister of Culture and Information | |
In office May 1973 –July 1978 | |
President | Gaafar Nimeiry |
Prime Minister | Rashid Bakr (1976–1977) |
Preceded by | Omar al-Haj Musa |
Succeeded by | Ali Muhammad Shamo |
Regional Minister of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region | |
In office May 1980 –October 1981 | |
President | Gaafar Nimeiry (Sudan) Abel Alier (Southern Sudan) |
Advisor to the President of Sudan | |
In office September 2005 –June 2011 | |
President | Omar al-Bashir |
Writing career | |
Language |
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Bona Malwal Madut Ring (born 1928) is a South Sudanese journalist,politician,and government official known for his advocacy for self-determination and secession for South Sudan. From the Dinka ethnic group,he pursued his education in journalism and economics in the United States,earning degrees from Indiana University and Columbia University. His career transitioned from an early stint as an Information Officer to journalism,including Editor-In-Chief positions at various Sudanese newspapers including the Southern Front's mouthpiece, The Vigilant.
Malwal co-founded the Southern Front,served in the national assembly,and held ministerial positions,advocating for cultural,informational policies,and economic development before and during Gaafar Nimeiry's era. He also notably resigned in protest against the imposition of Sharia law and Arabic as Sudan's official language after the 1977 National Reconciliation,before later joining the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region's government. In the 1990s,he advocated against human right abuses in Sudan while in self-exile.
Malwal played a role in peace negotiations and South Sudan's independence,occasionally aligning with controversial figures like Omar al-Bashir,who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for orchestrating the Darfur genocide. [1] Malwal's advocacy for South Sudanese self-determination alongside his critical stance against both northern and southern leaders has stirred controversies,including accusations of exacerbating ethnic tensions and his involvement in conflicts and divisive statements,including his views on ethnic groups. Malwal's family remains influential in South Sudanese politics and diplomacy.
Bona Malwal Madut Ring [2] : 261 was born in 1928 [note 1] in Twic Mayardit County,Bahr El Ghazal,Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (today in South Sudan). [7] He is from the Dinka ethnic group and is the son of a Gogrial Dinka chief. [8] [9] Malwal completed a diploma in journalism from Indiana University in 1963 on a scholarship, [7] followed by a bachelor's degree in economics [note 2] and a Master of Arts in journalism and communications,both from Columbia University in 1969. [11] [3]
In his early years,he became an Information Officer in Wau between 1951 and 1961,but then Malwal pursued a career in journalism,joining the government newspaper Sudan Daily's editorial board in 1961. [3]
Malwal became the editor-in-chief of the Southern Front's mouthpiece, The Vigilant ,an English-language newspaper in Sudan. [12] [13] The journal was founded on 23 March 1965. [12] Publication of The Vigilant was interrupted between July 1965 and January 1966, [12] following the publishing of articles about the massacres in Juba and Wau. [14] [15] The Vigilant was closed in May 1969 following Gaafar Nimeiry's 1969 Sudanese coup d'état. [16] In March 1974,he became an editorial board member of Al Sahafa newspaper. [3] He later founded and became the editor-in-chief for Sudanow Magazine (1976–1978), [3] The Sudan Times (1986–1989), [17] and Sudan Democratic Gazette (1989–2001). [18] [19]
Malwal also worked as a senior research fellow at Columbia University [20] (1978–1979), [3] and senior research fellow [21] and visiting academic at St. Antony's College,University of Oxford as part of the Sudanese Programme. [22] The Sudanese Programme was co-founded in 2002 by Malwal and Ahmed Al-Shahi within the Middle East Centre and the African Studies Centre at St Antony's College. [23]
Among many books,Malwal authored "Sudan and South Sudan:From One to Two," published in 2015, [24] which is regarded as his political memoir and provides insights into the history and challenges of the two nations. The book reflects his strong advocacy for self-determination and secession for South Sudan. [25]
Malwal co-founded and served as the secretary-general of the Southern Front (SF),a political organisation,in 1965. He was elected to the National Assembly in April 1968,but was later dismissed after a coup by General Nimeiry in 1969. [11] [26] : 46–47
Following the 1972 peace agreement that ended the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) in southern Sudan,Malwal served as the undersecretary of the Minister of Culture and Information starting in July 1972. He became the minister in May 1973 and served until July 1978. [11] He was also involved in the government's foreign affairs, [11] [26] : 46 being appointed at the Political Bureau of the ruling and the only legal political party,the Sudanese Socialist Union. [7] He was a member of the National Assembly between 1974 and 1978. [3] [19]
In March 1976,Malwal arranged for the release of Ibrahim El-Salahi,who was due to be executed. [27] El-Salahi was Malwal's undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information until his arrest in September 1975 following an anti-government coup. [28]
In July 1976,a force of one thousand insurgents under Sadiq al Mahdi,armed and trained by Libya,crossed the border from Ma'tan as-Sarra. After passing through Darfur and Kordofan,the insurgents engaged in three days of house-to-house fighting in Khartoum and Omdurman that killed some 3000 people. [29] Malwal and Abel Alier continued to broadcast the news from Juba instead of Omdurman. During that time,President Gaafar Nimeiry was able to rally the nation via Radio Juba,and his government was saved after a column of army tanks entered the city to end the coup attempt. [30] Some 3,000 were killed during the coup. [31] 98 people were officially implicated in the plot,including Muhammad Nour Saad,and they were executed. [32] [33] [34]
In 1977,a National Reconciliation took place in Port Sudan between Sadiq al Mahdi and Nimeiry,which saw the return of Hassan al-Turabi,an Islamist leader who had been imprisoned and then exiled after the May Revolution,as the Justice Minister and Attorney General in 1978. [35] Relations between Khartoum and the South Sudan leadership worsened after the National Reconciliation. Malwal publicly opposed the National Reconciliation. [3] [36] In 1978,he resigned in protest against the shift to Sharia law, [37] : 167 [26] : 196 [38] and Arabic becoming the country's official language. [39] Afterwards he left for the US. [7]
In 1980,Malwal returned to Sudan and became the Regional Minister of Industry and Mining in Abel Alier government for the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region. Later,in August 1981,he was moved to the Regional Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning after a disagreement with the (national) Minister of Industry and Mining,Sherif El-Tohamy, [3] for his decision to place an oil refinery in Kosti instead of Bentiu. [40] During his tenure,the World Bank funded a rice project in Aweil,which initially faced opposition from the local Dinka community but was eventually accepted and implemented. The project,covering a million acres,aimed to make Sudan self-sufficient in rice. But once the Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005) started,it reduced the project productivity and disrupted transportation,affecting marketability. [41] Malwal also leveraged his contacts for a 9 million USD for the southern region development. [26] : 46
Malwal was later dismissed from Alier's regional government due to his vocal opposition to Nimeiry's Islamist stance. He was detained in Kobar Prison in October 1981 until 1984. [3] After he was released,he fled to the UK and later the US. [42] He returned after the April 1985 revolution as a journalist,establishing The Sudan Times (1986–1989) [17] with Mahjoub Mohamed Salih, [43] and opposing Sadiq al Mahdi's new government that came after the 1985 coup d'état. [42] During that time,he documented how the north's policies,during the Second Sudanese Civil War,led to the 1988 famine in Bahr El Ghazal, [44] [45] which killed approximately 250,000 [46] to 500,000 [47] people. Malwal also later testified in front of the US Congress in 1987 about Slavery in Sudan. [42]
Malwal left for the UK again following the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état led by Brigadier Omar al-Bashir and supported by Hassan al-Turabi,the leader of the National Islamic Front. [3] [19]
Malwal and his family was granted Leave to remain in the UK in 1989. [18] While in self-exile in the UK up to April 2001, [48] Malwal was a visiting academic at St. Antony's College,University of Oxford, [7] established the Sudan Democratic Gazette (1989–2001), [18] [19] published "Crisis in the Sudan:Re-Thinking the Future" in 1994 with Peter Nyot Kok, [49] and co-founding the Sudanese Programme in 2002. [50] With other exiled southern Sudanese politicians,Malwal launched the South Sudan Democratic Forum (SSDF). [7] In 1989 and 1991,Malwal shared his opinion about the "Democratic Revolution in Africa" [51] and his personal experience in "Surviving Dictatorship" [52] in seminars sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy,US. In 1993,he appeared on the Charlie Rose talk show with Paul Simon,Judith Ann Mayotte,and Suzan Mazur to discuss the ongoing civil war in Sudan. [53] In the UK,in 1998,he testified to the Parliament of the United Kingdom about the famine in Sudan in 1998, [18] which mostly affected Bahr el Ghazal region in southwestern Sudan,killing more than 70,000. [54]
In 2004,Malwal returned to Sudan to supported the ongoing negotiations for a peace agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan. [55] In September 2005,after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War and set up a timeline for a Southern Sudanese independence referendum,Malwal became an adviser to President Omar al-Bashir. [56] [57] In March 2008,Malwal called for the creation of a reconciliation body in South Sudan stating that
It is necessary for the Government of Southern Sudan, therefore, led by the SPLM/SPLA that was largely responsible for the war atrocities within Southern Sudan, to now establish a truth and reconciliation commission, to lay to rest the ghosts of war and to enable the society to reconcile and to move on
In October 2008, Malwal voiced concerns about the potential arrest warrant for al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He dismissed the ICC's move as a politically motivated and defended al-Bashir, claiming that indicting him would target Sudan as a sovereign nation and could negatively impact existing peace agreements. He emphasises that al-Bashir, as a leader, could not be able to order the extermination of any group. [56] On 4 March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC, for directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. [59] [1]
Malwal was the co-director for the al-Bashir campaign for April 2010 Sudanese general election which al-Bashir won. [19] Malwal accompanied al-Bashir during his South Sudan campaign visit to Juba, Yambio, Rumbek, Tonj, and Kuacjok. [60] Malwal also stood for election for National Legislature in Warrap but later withdrew his candidacy citing "detention and harassment" by the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), [61] which the SPLA denies. [62] Malwal facilitated the reconciliation between 23 southern political parties and armed factions, and the SPLA. [7] [11]
In June 2011, after South Sudan was declared and recognised following the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum, Malwal announced that he was retiring from politics. [3] In his retirement statement, Malwal warned against "tribal politics", and, reflecting on his time working with al-Bashir, he praised al-Bashir saying that "I commend his [al-Bashir] wisdom, fortitude, perseverance and statesmanship and applaud him and thank him for this." [63]
Malwal has been known for his strong political stances, which have sparked controversies as evidenced by his disagreement with Hassan al-Turabi [37] : 167 [64] and Sadiq al-Mahdi [19] for their role in imposing Islam and Arabic language on the south. Following the National Reconciliation in 1977 which brought al-Mahdi and al-Turabi back to politics, Malwal criticised the Arab countries, saying that they talk about Arab-Muslim Sudan as if the south were without people. He also stated that "the Arabs are biased towards the north, and call for the unity of Sudanese soil without regard for the southerners," noting that "the timing of the Arab contribution to development in the south raises doubts about their intentions." Regarding the situation of southerners in Sudan, he said, "During the colonial era, we were second-class citizens, but now we are fourth-class citizens." [65]
Since the inception of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) was founded in 1983, [66] Malwal has had long held sharp opinions against the group and its leader John Garang. Malwal accused the northern government and John Garang's movement of not being serious about achieving peace in South Sudan. [58] [65] In letters shared by the two that later became public, Malwal also urged Garang's deputy, Salva Kiir Mayardit, to oppose Garang. [7] In 2001, Malwal filled a defamation lawsuit and an injunction to restrain against Garang and Michael George Garang Deng. [67] Leaked diplomatic cables described him as a sworn enemy of Garang. [68] Following Garang death in 2005, in an official press release from the Chairman of Dinka Caucus of Mainstream Democratic Forum in the US, they alleged that Malwal attended Garang's funeral "to laugh at his dead body". [69] However, Malwal later reconciled with Garang's widow in 2019. [66]
Malwal has advocated for self-determination and secession of South Sudan. [25] [70] Malwal has faced criticism from political analysts and individuals who questioned his intentions and divisive politics. [71] These criticisms highlight concerns about the impact of his divisive political rhetoric and actions in fuelling conflicts. [72] [73] [74] [71] [75] For example, he has been accused of spreading hate messages against certain ethnic groups, such as the Nuer people. [76] In an article published in the Sudan Tribune in 2007, the Dinka members of the South Sudan Democratic Forum (SSDF) voiced their strong disapproval of Malwal, a prominent figure in the SSDF. They attributed the split within the party to Malwal's actions. The Dinka members accuse him of potentially jeopardising the party's electoral chances due to his association with a controversial government and making statements that could alienate Southerners. They further condemn Malwal for his past "racist" and "tribalistic" views towards other ethnic groups, particularly the Nuer and Equatorians. [69]
Malwal is also a member of the Jieng Council of Elders, [74] which is accused of widening the division between the Dinka and Nuer, [77] [78] [79] [80] [81] and undermining the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. [82]
Furthermore, a report suggested that Malwal and Francis Deng fuelled the Abyei conflict, between the Twic Mayardit Dinka of Warrap state and the Ngok Dinka, through their publications. [83] [84] In December 2017, Malwal stated in a press conference in Khartoum that Abyei, a region claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan, is part of Sudan. [85] The statement angered South Sudanese politicians. [74] [86] [87] [88]
Malwal is Catholic. [19] [7] He is married to Salwa Gabriel Berberi, [89] an international law expert [90] and diplomat in the South Sudanese government. [7] His son, Akuei, is a South Sudanese diplomat [19] and served as the Permanent Representative of South Sudan to the United Nations from 2016 [91] to 2023. [92] His other son, Makol, is a trustee of the Sudanese Programme. [93] [94] His daughter, Sandra, is the Secretary General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-Democratic Change Party (Lam Akol faction). [95] His other daughter, Natalina, is an Executive Board Member and President of the Southern Sudanese Community in Montgomery County, Maryland, US. [96]
According to Malwal, his sister, who was a nurse, was captured into slavery. [97]
In the memory of the British anthropologist Godfrey Lienhardt (1921–1993), who extensively studied and wrote about the Dinka in southern Sudan, Malwal translated three Dinka songs about Lienhardt into English. [98]
The history of Sudan refers to the territory that today makes up Republic of the Sudan and the state of South Sudan, which became independent in 2011. The territory of Sudan is geographically part of a larger African region, also known by the term "Sudan". The term is derived from Arabic: بلاد السودان bilād as-sūdān, or "land of the black people", and has sometimes been used more widely referring to the Sahel belt of West and Central Africa.
Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth head of state of Sudan from 1969 to 1985, first as Chairman of the National Revolutionary Command Council and then as President.
The Dinka people are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Mangalla-Bor to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile, and the Abyei Area of the Ngok Dinka in South Sudan.
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Dr. John Garang De Mabior was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement as a commander in chief during the Second Sudanese Civil War. He briefly served as First Vice President of Sudan for three weeks, from the comprehensive peace agreement of 2005 until his death in a helicopter crash on July 30, 2005. A developmental economist by profession, Garang was one of the major influence on the movement that led to the foundation of South Sudan independence from the rule of the government of Omar Bashir the former president of Sudan (Khartoum).
Sadiq al-Mahdi, also known as Sadiq as-Siddiq, was a Sudanese political and religious figure who was Prime Minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989. He was head of the National Umma Party and Imam of the Ansar, a Sufi order that pledges allegiance to Muhammad Ahmad (1844–1885), who claimed to be the Mahdi, the messianic saviour of Islam.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as First Vice President of Sudan, from 2005 to 2011. He was named Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2005, following the death of John Garang.
Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon is a South Sudanese politician who served as the First Vice President of South Sudan.
The Sudan People's Liberation Movement is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army in 1983. On January 9, 2005 the SPLA, the SPLM and the Government of Sudan signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, ending the civil war. SPLM then obtained representation in the Government of Sudan, and was the main constituent of the Government of the then semi-autonomous Southern Sudan. When South Sudan became a sovereign state on 9 July 2011, SPLM became the ruling party of the new republic. SPLM branches in Sudan separated themselves from SPLM, forming the Sudan People's Liberation Movement–North. Further factionalism appeared as a result of the 2013–2014 South Sudanese Civil War, with President Salva Kiir leading the SPLM-Juba and former Vice President Riek Machar leading the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition.
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The Sudanese Communist Party is a communist party in Sudan. Founded in 1946, it was a major force in Sudanese politics in the early post-independence years, and was one of the two most influential communist parties in the Arab world, the other being the Iraqi Communist Party.
A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M).
The Abyei Area is an area of 10,546 km2 or 4,072 sq mi on the border between South Sudan and Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the Second Sudanese Civil War. The capital of the Abyei Area is Abyei Town. Under the terms of the Abyei Protocol, the Abyei Area is considered, on an interim basis, to be simultaneously part of both the Republic of South Sudan and Republic of Sudan, effectively a condominium.
Southern Sudan was an autonomous region consisting of the ten southern states of Sudan between its formation in July 2005 and independence as the Republic of South Sudan in July 2011. The autonomous government was initially established in Rumbek and later moved to Juba. It was bordered by Ethiopia to the east; Kenya, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the south; and the Central African Republic to the west. To the north lies the predominantly Arab and Muslim region directly under the control of the central government. The region's autonomous status was a condition of a peace agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) and the Government of Sudan represented by the National Congress Party ending the Second Sudanese Civil War. The conflict was Africa's longest running civil war.
The history of South Sudan comprises the history of the territory of present-day South Sudan and the peoples inhabiting the region.
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The following lists events that happened during 2011 in Sudan.
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Between February 2022 and April 2023, clashes broke out in the Abyei area of South Sudan between Twic Dinka militias against Ngok Dinka militias, regarding control of the border between Abyei and South Sudan's Twic County. The conflict ended temporarily following a ceasefire between the Twic Dinka and Ngok Dinka in May 2023. In September 2023, attacks flared up in the border area between Abyei and Twic County between Twic Dinka and Ngok Dinka youth, with several massacres against Ngok Dinka.
Following South Sudan's independence, 45 prominent Jieng (Dinka) politicians and elders formed the Jieng Council of Elders, which is chaired by a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Ambrose Riiny Thiik. The JCE is a tribal advisory committee to South Sudan President Salva Kiir, and it has been accused by Justice Deng Biong of advising Kiir on "divisive ethnic policies". The JCE is often accused of being behind hardline SPLM policies, and radicalisation of young Dinka.
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