A FLASHBACK: Who founded or co-founded Bilpam?
By James Gatdet Dak Lampuar
History is important, and particularly a correct history —- no matter how insignificant it may look.
Below is a brief history of how Bilpam — which carries the name of the current South Sudan army General Headquarters in the capital, Juba, was founded as a base for subsequent liberation movements since the mid-1970s.
Here is a fraction of the journey of our history in the liberation struggles which many people did not know.
It was my humble and Christian dad, Elder John Dak Lampuar —- who after the Akobo mutiny in 1975 — selected and laid the foundation of Bilpam with his own hands in order to become the base for the Anya-Nya II movement in 1976, which then, later on, became the General Headquarters for the SPLM/SPLA movement in 1983.
When the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972 was abrogated by Khartoum, a number of South(ern) Sudanese officers stationed in Akobo town — of the present day Jonglei state — led by late Benson Kuany Latjor, mutinied and decided to match out in protest towards Ethiopia in 1975.
After reaching Ethiopia in Itang town and subsequently meeting Ethiopian authorities from Gambela region, they were after a period of time finally welcomed and were then directed to find a suitable site for their base — around the area of Nyigol and Puldeng villages — near the Ethiopian border with South Sudan.
The would-be founders of the Anya-Nya II movement were specifically directed to meet my father, Elder John Dak Lampuar, who was/is the church leader in that area, to host and guide them on the selection of a site for a base.
Elder John Dak Lampuar welcomed the four officers, namely, Benson Kuany Latjor, Michael Waat Latjor, James Tap Liah, and Bol Kur.
My father told them about two possible sites to choose from as a base: Bilpam and Chotkuach!
However, my father strongly recommended Bilpam to them because it was a beautiful hilly site, with dense forests and a lot of coconut trees, and a river around it for easy access to water, and many different kinds of eatable wild animals living inside its vast forests, while it had no human inhabitants at that particular time.
Elder John Dak Lampuar took them to see Bilpam site, which was just a few kilometres away from his church and the surrounding villages. When they arrived, Benson Kuany and his colleagues liked the site.
Benson Kuany asked my dad as the host and spiritual elder in the area to symbolically cut and clear the first grass and shrubs in the centre of Bilpam —in a ceremonial manner and to bless it with a prayer and officiate the founding of Bilpam. My father did exactly that by praying and cutting the grass, and Bilpam was declared established or founded as the base!
But the officers went back to Itang and it took them a period of time to prepare before they could actually begin to build their houses or barrack in Bilpam.
Elder John Dak gave them a bull which they slaughtered for the event.
Benson Kuany Latjor then brought about 50 of his men from Itang who cleared the bushes of Bilpam and gradually began to erect houses and their barrack around 1976, until 1983 when the SPLM/SPLA took over the base.
Gordon Koang Chuol and Paulino Matip Nhial plus many other leaders joined the Anya-Nya II leadership after Bilpam was already founded.
In brief, this is how Bilpam was founded in the mid-1970s!
For about 9 years, my dad continued to support the Anya-Nya II leaders, with all he could possibly provide.
When the SPLM/SPLA took over Bilpam in 1983, under the leadership of Dr. John Garang de Mabior, and also made it the General Headquarters, my dad and our village chief, continued to support the new liberation movement. He was supporting the administrator of Bilpam at the time, Chagai Atem, with all the material, spiritual and moral support he could mobilize, and realized harmonious coexistence between the liberation army and the communities around Bilpam.
An interlude! Some of the Anya-Nya II leaders whose names I have mentioned above, or were among the 50 men during the founding ceremony of Bilpam, including uncle James Tap Liah, are still alive today. Actually, I met one of them in Juba in 2020 and he reminded me again about the whole thing. I met another founding member in Khartoum in 2019. He even still remembers the colour of the bull which my father gave to them —-surprisingly after more than 45 years of that event. He was so excited!
My dad had passion for the liberation of South Sudan. Since I was an adolescent I would from time to time hear him in our house chatting with any visiting Anya-Nya II leader, including Benson Kuany Latjor and Gordon Koang Chuol, etc.
Because my dad moved his family to Malakal — the then regional capital of Upper Nile — after the Addis Ababa Agreement was signed in 1972, he saw by himself the oppression inflicted on South(ern) Sudanese people inside Malakal town, and hence he saw the need for total liberation in order to gain freedom or independence. This made him to wholeheartedly support any liberation movement fighting for the people.
Currently, and unfortunately, our people or leaders talk of Bilpam, and have even established modern army General Headquarters in the capital, Juba, in its memory, but are shying away from acknowledging or talking about how it was originally established and who founded or co-founded it.
Bilpam is a compound word, which literally means ‘Rocky-hill.’ When the name is translated from Nuer language to English, ‘Bil’ means ‘Hill’ and ‘Pam’ means ‘Rock’, or even a mountain. For those who knew Bil-pam or Rocky-hill, it is on hilly ground, with beautiful scenery.
In addition to being the foundational layer of the historical Bilpam we all talk of since 1975/76, my dad —- like many others — was also generous to the two subsequent movements by contributing some of his own family cattle and grain for feedings in Bilpam, and ensuring harmony through the church he established in 1975 in Nyigol/Puldeng (Bilpam area).
History is important!
Today, while a very elderly person in his mid-80s, he doesn’t mind whether people acknowledge his past contributions or not. He knows that God does it and will do it in many different ways. He is so humble!
“It is my SPLM,” he once said.
May God grant him good health and add many more years to his life.
The author is a veteran journalist. He can be reached at email address: [email protected].