South Sudan Pioneer: John Penn de Ngong

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John Penn de Ngong doesn’t, actually, think he is safe. Which is why he has been in exile in Kenya since January this year, when his fellow civil rights activist Karbino Kolen went missing. This was after the disappearance of another colleague and the assassination of yet another one, most probably by, as Penn de Ngong puts it, ‘Khartoum in Juba’. Khartoum is the Sudanese dictatorship, against which John Penn, as a member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), fought until independence for the Republic of South Sudan was achieved in 2011. Juba is the capital of independent South Sudan which, according to Penn, is now mimicking the dictatorial ways of the erstwhile enemy. “It is very disappointing. What is happening in Juba today is a recurrence of what the Khartoum government did to us in our recent past. I am back to a refugee life, my family that fled home in 1993 during the war of liberation is now fleeing home again in 2013. This is just two years after the independence millions of South Sudanese donated their lives for. Like (Sudan’s dictator, EG) Omar al Bashir used to do, the new government is witch-hunting simple critics, labelling them traitors. The Khartoum regime carried out massacres of our rural people, but in December 2012 the Juba government did the same. About 9 people (including women and children) where shot dead when a protesting crowd was sprayed with bullets. (Later, the government claimed that the crowd had wanted to rob a bank – on a Sunday?)

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PaanLuel Wël

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PaanLuel Wël is the founder and editor-in-chief of PaanLuel Wël Media Ltd, a news website that covers news, opinions, analysis, history, culture and literature of South Sudan and the world. Founded in July 2011 by PaanLuel Wël to create a platform for free expression and constructive dialogue, the website features articles from various contributors, including columnists, commentators, poets, authors, activists and academics. PaanLuel Wël believes that media can play a vital role in informing, educating and empowering the people to participate in nation-building and social transformation. He also believes that media can foster a culture of dialogue, tolerance and diversity among different communities and groups, and hopes to inspire and mentor the next generation of South Sudanese writers and journalists.

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