Twï Community in Canada Pays Tribute to the Late Hon. Elijah Malok Aleng
6 min readPress Release
March 1, 2015 (SSB) — In honour of the late Hon. Elijah Malok Aleng, Twi Community Association in Canada organized a memorial event on December 13, 2014 in Calgary (Canada) that was attended by SPLM party members and South Sudanese Communities in Canada.
The Late Hon. Elijah Malok, who hailed from Twic East County of Jonglei State, was born on 28th of November, 1937 in Baidit in the current Bor County. After battling illness for sometimes, Uncle Elijah (as he was commonly called) unfortunately passed away on November 30th, 2014.
Hon. Malok attended Malek Primary School and then went on to Juba Intermediate and Juba Commercial Senior Secondary School. After graduation, he proceeded to Free University of Congo, in the present Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Malok later got a scholarship to study in Fribourg Catholic University, Switzerland, from which he obtained a Master’s degree in Economics in 1972. In 1975 he obtained another Master`s in Development Studies and Economic Planning from Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.
Malok left his luxurious job as a member of parliament for Kongoor District (now Twic East and Duk counties) to join Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA) on December 28, 1983 and became active in its ranks. He started as one of the senior political commissars in June 1984 and then went to join the Cadet Military College; graduating with the rank of a Major. After his training, he was posted to Southern Blue Nile front, where he was the second in command after the late A/Cdr Wilson Kur Chol. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forces of Eagle Battalion, which they were commanding, were largely made up of Jieeng elements from Northern Bahr el Ghazal specifically from Abiei, Gogrial and Aweil Counties. He remained in Southern Blue Nile front until mid-1987 when he was assigned to Francophone West Africa as a special envoy of the movement. As the SPLM Resident Representative in the Peoples’ Republic of Congo, with non-residential representation in Zaire (now DRC), Gabon, Cameroon, Central African Republic (CAR), Rwanda, Burundi and Chad, Mr. Malok was primarily stationed in Brazzaville, Congo. He however, for diplomatic purposes, travelled from time to time in to various capitals. He remained in Francophone Africa until the fall of the then Ethiopian socialist government under President Mengistu Haile Mariam and the SPLM split in 1991. (the advent of multi-party democracy in 1991.)
In June 1991, he was appointed Executive Director of the SRRA where he was in charge until January 1993. Nearly two years later, he was made the spokesman of the SPLM in East Africa; a duty he carried out for the whole of 1993. In January 1994, he was appointed Secretary of the National Convention Organizing Committee (COC), which organized the First SPLM/A National Convention. The convention was successfully held in Chukudum, New Sudan, in April/May 1994. After this convention such SPLM structures as the General Military Council (GMC), National Liberation Council (NLC), and National Executive Council (NEC) were instituted. He was elected member of NLC representing Twic East and Duk counties constituency and subsequently became a member and Secretary of the First NEC in the portfolio of Co-ordination and Public Service. In 1997, he was reshuffled away from public service and coordination to an advisory role in the Office of Chairman and C-in-C of the SPLM/SPLA. In that capacity, he became the advisor on economic, financial and political affairs. In February 1999, he was again appointed, for the second time, the Executive Director of the SRRA and ex-officio member of the NEC on humanitarian affairs in New Sudan. When peace negotiations began between various Sudan governments and the SPLM from 1985-2005, he was always the Secretary of the SPLM to the Peace Talks continuing until the CPA was signed in January 2005. In 2005 he was appointed Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Sudan (CBOS) and President of the Bank of Southern Sudan (BOSS).
During the memorial service, in Calgary (Alberta), community leaders, relatives, and friends eulogized the late Elijah Malok as a national leader, who even in his private life exemplified nationalism as evidenced by ethnicity of his first wife; who hails from Bari Community in Central Equatoria.
Agook Deng Agook, the SPLM Alberta Chapter leader, in his address to the memorial service audience, emphasized the contribution of Malok Aleng to the liberation movement. He added that he was a strong advocate for the unity of Jieeng communities in Jonglei State. Mr. Garang Thieu Juach, a Twic community elder in Canada, challenged South Sudanese youths to emulate the example of the late Hon. Elijah Malok Aleng in their public service. He also added that His integrity was second to none.
Mabior Nhial, a former SPLA Communications officer, the chief guest at the memorial service, gave a first-hand account of his interactions with the late Malongdit in Itang. He mentioned that Malongdit made a significant contribution in improving the welfare of internally displaced refugees in Itang, Ethiopia.
The newly elected president of Twic Community in Canada, Mr. Abraham Juach Khor Juach, eulogized Malok as a great arbitrator in community issues. Juach challenged Twic youths to fill in the roles that were played by the late Malok Aleng.
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Kuir Garang, a poet who hails from Twic East County, eulogized the late Elijah in the following poem:
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TRUTH AT ALL COST
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We’ll not cry tears now for you left a legacy
Your words and ideals were loud to fight a fallacy
Valuing truth all the time was your defining feature
Even when Pundits felt it caused unnerving fissures
You left for liberation at your youthful prime
Because being an African was indeed a crime
But never did you buy into that medieval fuss
You walked foreign bushes and capitals for us,
For generations that’d be born into oppression
Oduho, Saturnino and Jaden wanted separation
Separation of truth from fallacy for the African child
But it’d be many years of blood and tears in the wild
But valor was in you glistening and beaming
Oduho valued your youth & wisdom from the beginning
John Garang would later second truth you say
It wasn’t always easy to be you from day to day
But you valued truth as your characterizing pillar
Youngsters will ask themselves how to be similar
Truth is a dangerous, hot metal few dare hold, face
In the labyrinth of liberation fire and race,
Truth is sacrificed for opportunity and fear
The burden of truth is one thing you came to bear
You rejected being nice if it comprised valued norms
How many men would pride in that enviable form?
You coupled a fierce tongue with valued simplicity
You never sought power with your valued utility
You went to the bush Twice with historical giants
And you remained in the bush with patriotic compliance
South Sudan says ‘thank you!’ for yo’ time and knowledge
Jonglei State has in you a historical son to acknowledge
The Twï child adds you to the long list of valued men gone
Wangulei will have one thing for generations not yet born
When the storm is over, Awulian will smile;
Smile for the ideal you inculcated not just for a while
The Twï Child will tell the South Sudanese
Truth at all Cost, all the time, please!
Now, it’s time to say “Bye” and “Rest in Peace Uncle Elijah!”
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Kuir ë Garang ©2014
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Information Secretary, Twi Community Association of Canada
For further information contact: twisociety@gmail.com
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