CDR Kerubino Kuanyin Bol: An Oscillating Legacy between the National Dream and Multiple Camps of Loyalty – Part 5

By Dengdit Ayok, Cairo, Egypt

Saturday, September 05, 2020 (PW) —  During that period in the year 1997, elections had taken place in southern Sudan, in accordance with the provisions of the Khartoum Peace Agreement, in which Kerubino Kuanyin’s faction competed for the position of Governor of Western Bahr El-Ghazal State. The candidate for the post of governor of Western Bahr El-Ghazal was Charles Julu, who belongs to Fertit ethnic group in the state. Julu won the elections and became the governor of Western Bahr El-Ghazal State in Wau, succeeding Ali Tamim Fartak, the National Islamic Front Governor. Kerubino’s intention in nominating Charles Julu as his governor in Wau was winning the Fertit ethnic group to his side. He indeed succeeded in winning them.

Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol continued the process of mobilizing the citizens in Wau to stand by him, because he was intending to capture Wau town, after he had contacted John Garang at the end of 1997 and explained to him his plan to return to the SPLM/SPLA with Wau under his control, so that he could return to the SPLM/SPLA with the euphoria of military victory by capturing and controlling one of the three major towns in southern Sudan. Great idea!

Garang agreed and promised to support him. And it was according to this policy that large numbers of SPLA soldiers went to Marial Baai village near Wau, and joined the camp of Major General Kerubino Kuanyin. Seeing that big number of the SPLA soldiers from Garang’s main SPLA going to Marial Baai and joining Kerubino, the First Vice President of the Republic, As-Zubair Mohamed Saleh, went and received them. They were called al-aideen meaning ‘’the returnees’’ by the government. He addressed them and delivered to them a very emotional speech in which he warmly welcomed them and talked to them about the importance of achieving peace in Sudan, without knowing that this was a joint plan by Kerubino and Garang to lead the war and capture Wau.

In January 1998, the forces of Major General Kerubino, supported by the forces the government had called ‘’the returnees’’, launched an attack on Wau in which the government forces were quickly crushed and dislodged. Kerubino forces temporarily took control of the town, but his army was engaged in plundering and prowling the spoils in the town as soon as they dislodged the government’s army. This gave the enemy an opportunity to regroup and reorganize and launch a counterattack, which resulted into the retake of Wau town by the government’s army with many SPLA soldiers killed as they were engaged in plundering and rewarding themselves with possessions, thus Kerubino’s plan to capture Wau failed.

Here, the observer can also notice that Major General Kerubino Kuanyin shifted his camp of loyalty from the Sudanese government, turning against it, and quickly returned to the SPLM/SPLA, which he fought in the years of his fall out with John Garang. This is a military and political tale of a giant soldier who had been switching sides during the war of liberation without accurate calculations, which ended in a sad way when ‘’the magic turned against the magician’’ according to the Arabic parable, as we shall see in the end of the story.

1. The Return to SPLM and fire exchange in Nairobi, October 1998

After the failure of his plan that was aimed at capturing Wau, in January 1998, Major General Kerubino Kuanyin left (Marial Baai) and arrived in (Yienth Kuel) in Gogrial, and he then left for the Kenyan capital Nairobi, after spending a period of time in Gogrial. The decision to go to Nairobi was made by John Garang with the aim of attaching him to the headquarters rather than being given a top field appointment to lead battles in Bahr El-Ghazal region. He stayed in the headquarters in Nairobi for a period of time. This gave him an opportunity to spend time with his wives and children who had been in Nairobi since 1992, but he was later accused of plotting to assassinate the SPLM Chairman John Garang. This is also another U-turn of many U-turns of Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol.

2. Leaving Nairobi for Mankien

There was an exchange of fire in Nairobi between the supporters of Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol and the supporters of Dr. John Garang de Mabior in October 1998. The Muthangari Police Station in Nairobi witnessed the shooting incident, which resulted into the death of one person. This caused a great media storm in both Nairobi and Khartoum at the time. When the dust of the media storm subsided, Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol left Nairobi city in a special jet for Mankien in western Nuer land in Unity State, where he was received with great hospitality by Major General Paulino Matip Nhial, a commander of the South Sudan United Army, a pro-government militia.  

It is worth noting here, that Kerubino Kuanyin and Paulino Matip had two special kinds of relationships. The first one is social, that is Matip’s marriage to Kerubino’s cousin, and the second is political, that is their opposition to John Garang. But Kerubino had made a mistake then. His political and military calculations were not accurate. That was a big mistake. He quickly returned to the den of the opponents who he had fought in the battle for Wau, causing loss of life in the ranks of the government troops.

3. The last battle

In September 1999, a fierce battle took place in Mankien village after disagreements and wrangles between the two commanders, Peter Gadet Yak and Paulino Matip Nhial. Gadet planned to overthrow Paulino Matip and take over the commandership of the army that Matip was commanding. The fighting ensued between the forces loyal to Matip and the forces loyal to Peter Gadet, in which scores of soldiers and officers from both sides were killed. In the battle, Kerubino fought alongside Paulino Matip, and the battle ended with the capturing of Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol by Commander Peter Gadet Yak, who immediately joined the SPLA forces under the command of John Garang, after the battle of his defection from Matip’s camp.

According to some accounts that were widely circulated at the time claimed that Major General Kerubino Kuanyin had not been captured, but had surrendered himself to Peter Gadet after he witnessed a terrible death of soldiers who were fighting to rescue him. However, it was hard to believe those accounts and stories; because Kerubino, as a soldier and a fierce fighter, does not accept defeat and does not give up in battles.

After Peter Gadet captured Major General Kerubino, he sent a message to the SPLM leadership headquarters in Nairobi, so the headquarters shared the message with senior officers, some of them were from Twic, the same area where Kerubino hails. They expressed their deep annoyance towards him because of his frequent swinging between the two camps of conflict. The message came back to Gadet telling him to act, so he executed and eliminated Kerubino. It appeared then that the ambitions and interests of the leaders within the SPLM sometimes required physical elimination with direct or indirect support by the leaders as part of what is known as settling of political differences.

Peter Gadet then became a striking force in the area for the SPLA, and he led many military operations for the SPLA under the commandership of John Garang. He hindered oil-drilling process in Bentiu and in other oil production areas in Upper Nile province.

According to the stories and accounts that were circulated at that time, Kerubino Kuanyin, was killed in a very brutal manner. He was cut into pieces while he was tied and still alive with an axe in one story, and was slaughtered in another story, on September 10, 1999, aged fifty-one. He was executed with full knowledge of the SPLM political leadership and its army.

The reason for chopping Major General Kerubino Kuanyin with an axe when he was killed by Peter Gadet Yak, was the wide spread believe that he was equipped with a supernatural magic power that does not allow bullets to kill him, regardless of their size. And here it appears that the late leader and commander Kerubino Kuanyin Bol was a character with a lot of myths and strange rumors circulated around him until his demise. No one could confirm the authenticity of such beliefs, rumors, chitchats and gossips.

According to the other accounts and narratives which were also circulated following his death, it was said that Peter Gadet had ordered his execution by a fire squad, but he did not die, and no traces of bullets were seen on his body after he was shot. One of the worst things that happened after his execution was that his body was not buried. It was left in an open air until it discomposed. His bones remained in the spot where he fell in Mankien for a period of time, until his relatives went there and collected his bones and buried them in his hometown, Wunrok Adiang.

4. Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be said that Major General Kerubino Kuanyin Bol Deng is a victim of the complexities of politics of liberation in southern Sudan within the SPLM leadership on one hand, and he was also a victim of his rapid political and military shifting without accurate calculations on the other hand. He therefore, fell in the battle as a general who had been swinging between the struggle for the achievement of the national dream for South Sudan; that is an independent and sovereign state (his dream was fulfilled in July 2011), and multiple political camps of loyalty and several military relocations during the liberation war.

One therefore sees that history preserves and recalls his legacy and memory as a hero in the war of liberation, but he was oscillating between two things: fighting for the realization of the national dream on one hand, and multiple military camps and several political loyalties on the other hand. On the other hand, one also sees that his nature of swapping and switching sides politically and militarily and the existence of multiple political loyalties, which resulted into too much swinging between the two camps of conflict in the Sudan; were “the straw that broke the camel’s back’’ according to the famous Arabic parable, as his efforts were scattered and shattered between the two camps, and in the end, his life ended tragically.

This is how the valiant soldier and the hero of the liberation struggle, who was politically engaged in preparing a clandestine movement to lead the revolution, and who fired the first shot of the revolution that later ended with the declaration of an independent state, died. May God the Almighty continue to rest his precious soul internal peace in the land with the good ones and the ancestors; as we collectively commemorate our martyrs, and may his memory and legacy continue to live on in his children, his grandchildren and in the people of South Sudan.

References:

1. Obituary: Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, a report by Richard Greenfield of The Independent British newspaper, Friday, September 24, 1999.
2. A report by The East African, a Nairobi based newspaper, September 22-28, 1999, republish by PaanLuel Wel during the Martyrs’ Day commemoration in July 2012, titled: “Slain Sudanese Warlord Mourned by His 10 wives”.
3. A report by ‘’Human Rights Watch’’, titled: “Sudan famine: Bahr El-Ghazal and the famine of 1998”.
4. Arop Madut Arop’s book: “Sudan’s Painful Road to Peace, A Full Story of the Founding and the Development of the SPLM/SPLA”
5. Edward Abyei Lino’s book: “Dr. John Garang de Mabior Atem: A Man to Know”.
6.  A report on the factions that signed the Khartoum Peace Agreement 1997 by www.sudanupdate.org with the National Islamic Front (NIF) and the National Salvation Revolution Government, under the slogan (peace from within).
7. A radio interview conducted with Kerubino Kuanyin after he had escaped the prison in late 1992, while in Ugandan.
8. A TV interview with Kerubino’s widow Nyandeng Chol Dut during the 16 May 2020 marking the 37 years anniversary of SPLM/A foundation. The interview was conducted by Journalist Mading Ngor Akec. In the interview, Nyandeng Chol recalls the start of the revolution in Bor on May 16, 1983.
9. Dr. Peter Adwok Nyab’s book “Politics of Liberation in South Sudan  … An Insider’s View 1997”
10.  The author as a witness to many parts of the events mentioned in this article in mid-1990s. 

The author, Mr. Dengdit Ayok, is a South Sudanese journalist, writer, poet and political commentator. He be reached by dengditayok88@gmail.com

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