Martrys’ Day: William Deng Nhial
8 min readNhial Deng Nhial: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Biography
Nhial Deng is a Dinka from the Bahr el Ghazal region of Southern Sudan. He is the son of the famous late leader William Deng Nhial who was assassinated before the Addis Ababa Agreement was signed between Sudan and South Sudan in Ethiopia, in 1972. William Deng Nhial was as thoughtful as John Garang was. His son Nhial Deng Nhial did not join the movement as a member of an average Southern Sudanese family, he came from a home of a politician and was familiar with the grief of losing his father when he was young. As a Dinka tribesman he is a man of honor and he has committed his life to the liberation of South Sudan as a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Nhial joined the SPLA right after its inception in 1983. He was closely associated with the drafting and negotiation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Republic of Sudan and South Sudan, which was signed in Naivasha, Kenya, in January 2005.
Education
Nhial Deng Nhial completed his early education at the Comboni College in Khartoum, Sudan. He then entered the University of Khartoum to study law. He graduated in the early 1980s with the degree of Bachelor of Laws (LLB), and earned a Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law(JD) degree from the University of Dundee in the UK in 2008. He is fluent in both English and Arabic. There are South Sudanese media reports, yet unconfirmed, that following the conclusion of the Naivasha Agreement, Nhial Deng Nhial was slated to become the Sudanese Foreign Minister in the Government of National Unity. However following the death of Dr. John Garang in a plane crash in July 2005, Mr. Nhial refused entreaties to serve in Khartoum and opted to work in the nascent Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS).
Role in the government of Southern Sudan
Nhial Deng Nhial was appointed Minister of Regional Affairs in the Southern Sudanese cabinet in 2005 by President Salva Kiir. He however abruptly resigned from the cabinet less that six month later. There has been speculation as to what led to that resignation, with no clear reason being fronted.
In 2004 when rumors soared across Southern Sudan that John Garang was planning to dismiss Salva Kiir as his deputy and replace him with Nhial Deng Nhial. However, at a meeting of SPLA top brass held in Rumbek, in December 2004, one month before the signing of the CPA, Dr. Garang made it clear that those speculations were just that; only speculations, without any basis for truth.
In December 2008, Nhial Deng Nhial was appointed Minister of SPLA and Veterans Affairs by the then President of Southern Sudan, Salva Kiir, replacing General Dominic Dim Deng who died in a plane crash on the 2nd May 2008. He returned to the South Sudanese cabinet with the military rank of Lieutenant General in the SPLA.[3] Following the independence of South Sudan on 9 July 2011, Nhial Deng Nhial was appointed Caretaker Minister of Defense of the Republic of South Sudan. On August 26th, 2011, President Salva Kiir Mayardit unveiled his long-awaited cabinet with Mr. Nhial Deng Nhial appointed as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of South Sudan.
He is a member of the SPLM’s highest organ, the Political Bureau, and served as the leader of the SPLM delegation in Naivasha peace talks. [4]
Short Biography
William Deng Nhial is widely recognized as one of the greatest Sudanese leaders who wanted to contribute in building the “United States of Sudan,” and sowed the seeds that brought the CPA now being richly harvested by the SPLM/A. He gave his life just like Dr. John Garang de Mabior so that the problem of the majority indigenous African tribes in Sudan is known by the enlightened world. Our father; William Deng Nhial was assassinated in a most painful manner in the Chueibet County in a place now known as William Bridge while on promoting his vision during the general elections in 1968.
This year the anniversary of William Deng Nhial’s death falls on the 5th of May 2010 after the April’s 2010 general elections. He gave his life during the elections of 1968 so that our African’s problems with those who call themselves Arab in Sudan is known. His assassination along with members of his peace mission team occurred during the reins of Gamal Abdelnasir of Egypt and Prime Minister Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub of Sudan..
HMC invites you to pray with them on that date at Martyr William Deng Nhial’s clinic in Kalakla al Dikheinat (Kadisia) in the Jebel Aulia province, 22 kilometers from the tri-city capital Khartoum on Kosti /Khartoum tarmac road. We shall take advantage of this occasion to examine what makes Mr. William Deng Nhial’s work so important to every Sudanese regardless of his or her indigenous background.
When was SANU born?
Sudan African National Union (SANU) was born in the late fifties as the Sudan African Closed Districts National Union (SACDNU). In the middle of 1960s, it changed its name to Sudan African National Union (SANU) for the following reasons:
- To shorten the long abbreviation without losing its political Vision, Mission and commitment to African values.
- To bring it in line with the East and Central African Political Parties like KANU, ZANU, and TANU etc., and which all share the objective of African Unity..
- To advocate the Pan-African Movement for the total unification of the African people in Sudan.
A National Hero
William Deng Nhial believed in the need for free, fair, and transparent elections. He believed that the promotion of Democratic Socialism will solve the problems of social instability, economic development, the irresponsible use of resource revenues that should be earmarked for the development of the Sudanese people, especially the indigenous majority African tribes in Sudan. SANU would like to see that this April election are peaceful and free and that they bring African leaders that will form a responsible government both in the Khartoum and in the African states in the west, east , south and the north and a leadership that will use our God has given resources wisely and responsibly.
SANU views fellow Africans in the western and Eastern Sudan as our partners because we African Sudanese have very serious and well-known challenges emanating from the racist Arab tribes in Sudan. We must therefore join hands with the peace loving world to confront Arabs’ colonialism which started immediately after independence in 1956.
SANU is confident that Africa and Africans leaders will rise to meet, understand and overcome these challenges faced by the indigenous African tribes in Sudan after the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
We in SANU believe in the Sudanese indigenous Africa’s potential and what the future promises. SANU remains committed to the Sudanese indigenous African’s future. SANU will be strong partners with the African people to build the “United States of Africa” and Southern Sudan is the nuclei” for this alliance. Together we can work for the black Africans’ destiny in Africa and help uproot Arabs colonialism in Sudan by 2011, and treat with equality those who call themselves with respect as their fellow human being created by the same God of Abraham.
Mission of SANU under William Deng Nhial
Liberation of the indigenous African marginalized tribes in Sudan, and promoting justice and harmonious relationships between African and Arab tribes in Sudan was at the core of the message from SANU and our late leader William Deng Nhial.
By organizing and educating the marginalized indigenous African tribes and making them aware of the importance of justice in their lives and in their communities, so that they participate in liberating themselves and the minority Arab tribes in Sudan from hatred and revenge.
Working with the people organize the indigenous African tribes to liberate themselves from hunger and poverty, and participate with them in liberating themselves from disease, sickness and pain; SANU will work in partnership with the African people; grassroots farmers, herders and fisher folks to organize medical projects like hospitals and clinics which provide curative medical services for the sick. SANU will also encourage the empowerment of the African tribes by helping themselves and instructing themselves in ways of preventing sickness..
Under William Deng Nhial’s leaderships, Sudan African National Union (SANU) initiated and laid down the seeds of political partnership in the liberation struggle of the indigenous African Sudanese people of Nuba, Fur, Beja, Nubia, Ingesenia and other parts of northern Sudan including the black African Danagala, Shagia and Jaalin who are being excluded because they are considered slaves because of their black skin.
The light skinned (mixed blood) who calls themselves Arabs still consider themselves Sudanese and the indigenous black people Junubin and others with similar skin shades are their slaves and must be controlled by them. They initiated systematic programs using Arab tradition and culture to exclude dark-skinned African Sudanese by giving themselves the rights to marry and enslave the black African girls with the aim of purifying the black skin, while preventing their girls from marrying the indigenous black African men, by claiming their “Allah” has given them all the rights to enslave African Sudanese in Sudan and beyond using Islam, and eventually remove the black skin so that everyone is an Arab in Sudan.
This Arab program started when they were handed power in 1956 by the colonial powers Britain and Egypt. Anglų kalbos vaikų dienos stovykla Kaune ir Klaipėdoje čia This chocolate skin who calls themselves Arab automatically assumed a neo-colonial power over the Black Sudanese indigenous African tribes of Sudan.
When the neo-Arab colonial power after independent in 1956 saw that the Nuba, Ingessina and indigenous African tribes in other parts of northern Sudan are politically getting awakened and organized by SANU to stand up for their social, economic and political rights, the neo-colonial power under Ishmael al Azhari decided that Mr. William Deng Nhial, the leader of SANU, was too dangerous to be allowed to live. Thus, in 1968 they assassinated him in the Chueibet County in a place now known as William Bridge.
But Mr. William Deng Nhial has sown the seeds of political cooperation which are not being richly harvested by the SPLM/A.
The original leaders of SANU
It is good to know the original leaders of SANU and this include Mr. Aggrey Jaden, Mr. Joseph Oduho, Fr. Saturnino Ohure, Mr. William Deng Nhial, Mr. Ali Gbattala and others.
http://warrap.org/Warrap/People/William%20Deng%20Nhial.php
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