Remembering CDR Nyachigak Nyachiluk: A Vanguard Symbol of the SPLM/SPLA Liberation Struggle in South Sudan
43rd Anniversary of May 16th: Commemoration of the Bor Mutiny that Gave Birth to the SPLM/SPLA Liberation Struggle of South Sudan.
“Nyachigak Nyachiluk was born in 1958 in the village of Likuangole, north of Pibor town in Jonglei State (known today as the Greater Pibor Administrative Area). He grew up in a modest environment marked by difficult conditions and a harsh life. While working as a porter in Pibor town, his name was accidentally included among the students of Pibor Primary School in 1969. Although his mother pulled him out of school several times, his extraordinary determination enabled him to complete primary school in just three years.
Nyachigak continued his education after being accepted into Nasir Intermediate School, but feeling homesick, he transferred to Jonglei Intermediate School in Malakal, where he studied between 1974 and 1976. He excelled academically and earned his intermediate certificate with distinction. He then joined secondary school in Port Sudan, Red Sea State, between 1977 and 1979, where his interest in political issues and social justice began to take shape alongside his academic studies.
In 1980, he joined the Faculty of Law at Cairo University – Khartoum branch, studying law and human rights between 1980 and 1982. During this period, he immersed himself in revolutionary literature and socialist ideas, which deepened his conviction that struggle was necessary for justice and the liberation of South Sudan. In the early 1980s, he became the leader of the “Liberation Front,” a clandestine student organization for South Sudanese students that advocated for the rights of Southerners. Its members included prominent figures such as Pagan Amum, Oyai Deng Ajak, Lokurnyang Lado, James Lual, Peter Parnyang, Kiir Garang Di Kuek, and Pieng Deng Majok, among others. His leadership of the student movement garnered widespread support among secondary school and university students, making him one of the most prominent faces of political struggle at the time.
Nyachigak led student cell organizations and demonstrations in Malakal protesting the repressive policies of the central government in South Sudan under the then-President of the High Executive Council, Abel Alier. These activities led to their arrest in August 1981, but that did not deter them from continuing the struggle. Nyachigak continued to coordinate with revolutionary officers within military garrisons, including Dr. John Garang and Major Salva Kiir Mayardit. The students used Major Salva Kiir’s house in Malakal as a meeting place and a hideout for their clandestine activities.
Convinced that armed struggle had become an absolute necessity, Nyachigak went into the bush in 1982 with his comrades, where they established the “South Sudan Liberation Front” as a secret Marxist organization.
Nyachigak and his comrades joined the Anyanya II forces in Bilpam, Ethiopia, alongside Akuot Atem, Samuel Gai Tut, Gordon Koang, Abdullah Chuol, Paulino Matip, Vincent Kuanyin, and others, where they underwent military training. However, the stalemate in the camp led them to make a tactical withdrawal from the Anyanya II forces. Realizing the need to reconnect with revolutionary officers within government garrisons to obtain weapons and ammunition, he secretly went to Pochalla and contacted Major Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, commander of Battalion 105, who provided him with military support and necessary personnel.
Using this small force, Nyachigak launched attacks on the Boma area in 1983. In July of that year, his group held a number of missionaries hostage in the Boma mountains and demanded a ransom from the United States in the form of weapons and ammunition to support the armed revolution. The weapons did arrive, but they were routed through the Sudanese government due to Ethiopia’s unsupportive stance toward the group, leading Khartoum to use them against Nyachigak’s forces, forcing him to move to Jabal Raad and make it his new base.
While at Jabal Raad, Nyachigak ceded leadership of the South Sudan Liberation Front to his comrade Lukornyang Akim Lado, the Front’s Political Orientation Secretary, while Pagan Amum became his deputy. Meanwhile, the Greater Upper Nile region witnessed significant developments, as Major Kerubino Kuanyin Bol, commander of Battalion 105, mutinied in Bor town on May 16, 1983, while Major William Nyuon Bany left the Ayod area ten days later heading into the bush. These two groups formed the initial nucleus of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).
With the official announcement of the founding of the SPLM/A in 1983, Nyachigak called for the dissolution of the South Sudan Liberation Front and joining the nascent movement as a broader framework for struggle. His forces were indeed integrated into the SPLA. He was retrained within the “Shield One” forces, where he was granted the rank of Major in 1984, then appointed commander of the “Scorpion” Battalion under the Locust Division of the Eastern Command, with then-Captain Anthony Bol Madut as his deputy.
On April 1, 1985, the Scorpion Battalion launched its first military attacks, capturing “Boma Above” (Upper Boma) and Kurakoun, including the command headquarters and military garrison. Captain Chol Morwel led the first company in the attack on Upper Boma, while resistance in Lower Boma (Haite) continued until the fifth day of the operation.
On April 8, 1985, Major Nyachigak ordered First Lieutenant Daniel Deng, commander of the second company, who in turn tasked Second Lieutenant Ayul Garang Deng with attacking Lower Boma, even without direct orders from Colonel John Garang, then the Movement’s Commander-in-Chief. Intense artillery shelling led by Second Lieutenant Diew Warabek Ayul accelerated the fall of “Haite,” and the Lower Boma area was cleared of enemy forces that same day. Thus, the Scorpion Battalion liberated the Boma Mountains in April 1985, making the Boma hills the first town to fall to the SPLA and an enduring symbol of victory in the Movement’s history.
In Boma, Nyachigak played a pivotal role in mobilizing the local population, explaining the Movement’s objectives, and the citizens’ role in the liberation struggle. Unlike some SPLA commanders, he adopted a strict code of conduct to discipline the Movement’s forces, earning him widespread respect among the Murle, Kachipo, Buya, Didinga, and Toposa communities, who provided the SPLA with food supplies and intelligence on enemy movements.
In June 1985, he married the female fighter Bongot Amum Okech, a member of the “Girls’ Battalion,” in a ceremony attended by several SPLM leaders.
In recognition of his military successes, Major Nyachigak Nyachiluk was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as an alternate member of the SPLM/A’s supreme political and military leadership in September 1985.
He also had the honor of participating, alongside Dr. John Garang, in designing the flag of the SPLM/A, which was raised for the first time in Boma town in September 1985.
After consolidating the Movement’s positions in Boma, and to prevent any enemy advance toward SPLA-controlled areas, Nyachigak requested permission from the Movement’s leadership to launch an attack on Kapoeta in October 1985. He was tasked with leading the Scorpion, Fire, and Bee battalions to carry out the operation.
While preparing for the battle, he composed the famous oath of the SPLA forces known as the “Bonga Oath,” which states:
“If I fail to carry out my commander’s orders, it is better for me to die by my own bullet.”
This oath reflected his absolute commitment to the cause of liberating his people.
During the campaign to capture Kapoeta, Nyachigak was wounded in a surprise attack, but he refused to withdraw from the battlefield, as retreat was not an option for him. Despite his wounds, he continued engaging enemy forces until he was martyred on December 6, 1985, in the Rowoto area north of Kapoeta, Eastern Equatoria State.
Today, Nyachigak Nyachiluk is remembered as one of the heroes and martyrs of South Sudan’s liberation. His memory endures through institutions and sites bearing his name, including the Nyachiluk Military Officers College and some administrative units in Boma. His contributions to the liberation movement, strategic vision, and militant steadfastness have cemented his place as one of the enduring national icons in South Sudan’s history, embodying an extraordinary journey from humble beginnings to the rank of a revolutionary leader who dedicated his life to freedom and independence.”
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