Lakes state reburies veteran politician in Rumbek

December 18, 2011 (RUMBEK) – Thousands of people witnessed the reburial of the remains of Samuel Aru Bol, a veteran politician in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes state on Saturday.

Bol’s remains removed from his grave in Khartoum in June 2011 and transported to Rumbek, his homeland by his family with support from state government before South Suda’sn independence on 9 July 2011.

His career took him from being a policeman to representing Rumbek at parliaments in both Juba and Khartoum.

The highest position he held was Vice President, under Joseph Ladu, of the regional authority that governed South Sudan as part of the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement that ended the first north-south civil war.

He was born in 1929 and he died in Khartoum in 2000 and so did not witness the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which led to South Sudan’s independence.

However, he was a signatory to the 1997 Sudan Peace Agreement when he belonged to a group that splintered away from South Sudan’s dominant political and military force the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Speaking at the ceremony his son, Marial Samuel Aru, gave special thanks to the people of Lakes state for making it possible to return him to Rumbek.

Marial, also acknowledge the effort made by federal government in Khartoum for allowing his remains to be returned to South Sudan.

“We would like to thank the government of the Republic of South Sudan and the SPLM and special thank goes to H.E. Dr. Lual Acuek, the former Federal minister of petroleum who make it possible to transport the remains of late our father to Rumbek –H.E. Paul Mayom, the minister of irrigations deserved thanks with Dr. Marial Awuou the deputy minister if finance and also Benjamin Madol as well the Agar Community in Juba for their great contribution”.

When he died aged 71 Bol left behind his wife Susana Lou Kon and nine children.

Top government officials in the Republic of South Sudan were present in the reburial ceremony including South Sudan National parliament Chief Whip Atem Garang who represented the Republic of South Sudan government at the reburial ceremony.

BIOGRAPHY

Samuel Aru Bol

Date, place of birth, marriage status:

• Born 01.01.1929, Rumbek town, Bahr El Ghazal Province.
• Father: Bol Jok Chok of Adol Village, Rumbek.
• Mother: Adit Cingoth Ater of Abiriu Village, Rumbek.
• Married to Suzanna Lou Kon of Akot, Rumbek on 9th September 1958 in Rumbek
• Children: Daughters: Yar, Agum, Akoi, Aluel and Piath. Sons: Marial, Deng and Jok.

Education:

• Primary Education: Gel River, 1942 BGP – 1945
• Intermediate: Nugent School, Loka, Equatoria Province, 1946 – 1948
• Both Primary and Intermediate education were of the Church Missionary
• Society, CMS
• Rumbek Senior Secondary School of the Sudan Government 1949 – 1951 (Dismissed for leading a strike in 1951)
• 1951- 1952, Adult Education Officer, Amethduol Village, Rumbek, a CMS Supported programme
• 1952 – 1953, Clark CMS, Secretariat, Juba Equatoria Province.
• 1953 Passed Cambridge Examinations with a Credit.

Government positions:

• 1954 – 1956 Sudan Police College, Omdurman, awarded a Diploma
• 1956 – 1966 served as police Officer in various towns of the Sudan, promoted to the post of Superintendent.
• 1956 – 1957 Wad Medani, Blue Nile Province.
• 1957 – 1958 El Fasher, Darfur Province.
• 1958 – 1962 Wau, Bahr Ghazal Province.
• 1962 – 1964 Khartoum, Khartoum Province.
• 1964 – 1965 Kassala, Kassala Province.

Political positions:

• 1966 – 1968 Secretary General, Sudan African National Union Party under the Presidency of Mr. Willam Deng Nhial
• 1967 Bye-elections returned Aru as MP for Rumbek East Constituency 124, Khartoum, Sudan.
• 1968 – 1969 elected by SANU Party as President of the Sudan African National Union, after assassination of Mr. William Deng.
• 1970; Detained with colleagues Dr. Toby Maduot, Ezekiel Kodi, Ezra Majok and many Northern Sudanese in Dabaka Prison, later removed to Kober Central Prison for six months
• 1971 – 1972: Humanitarian Official, Administrator, Member of the Board of Directors of a National Company, Chairman of the 39th Southern Sudanese Advisory Committee.
• World Food Programme Officer, Khartoum.
• Appointed Member of the Head of the Board of Directors of Kattan National Company
• Chairman of the 39 Southern Sudanese Members Advisory Committee to the Minster of State for Southern Sudanese Affairs, an unpaid position. This committee drafted and prepared the working paper, Southern Sudanese point of view, that was discussed with other presentations resulting in Addis Ababa Agreement 1972.

Ministerial Posts and detention without trail:

• 1972 – 1974: Minister of Co-operatives, High Executive Council, Juba and on a Reshuffle, Minister of Regional Administration, Police and Prisons.
• 1974 – 1977 (Appointed) for Rumbek East Constituency 124 to the National Constituent Assembly, Khartoum, Sudan.
• MP (Appointed) to the Nile Valley Parliament, Cairo – Khartoum.
• 1978 – 1979 MP Elected in and for Rumbek East Constituency 124, to the People’s Regional Assembly, Juba.
• Vice President to Joseph Lagu and Minister of Regional Administration, Police and Prison, High Executive Council, Juba. Relived of Ministerial duties and detained in Kober Central Prison for a year without trail.

• 1980 – 1983:
• Elected MP for Rumbek East Constituency 124;
• Vice President, Council for the Unity of the Southern Sudan, CUSS, led by Mr. Clement Mboro; a political grouping.
• Detained in Kober Central Prison for a year without trail, then released and confined to Khartoum Province.

• 1885- 1989
• On the merger of SANU and Southern Front Parties and others, elected President of the new Southern Sudan Political Association, SSPA
• Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Irrigation and Water Power, Khartoum Sudan in 1985-1986.
• Elected Vice President and Spokesperson, the Union of Sudan African Parties, USAP, Khartoum, Sudan.
• 1989 Detained in Kober Central Prison with many other Northern and Southern Sudanese political leaders (for six months in my case and more or less for the others without charges nor trail); released and confined to Khartoum Province.

Countries Visited:

• Aden, Somalia I a Parliamentary delegation 1968.
• Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria 1968 in SANU party delegation.
• Kenya in a Southern Sudanese ministerial delegation in 1972.
• Ethiopia in a SANU party delegation for the peace talks resulting in
• Addis Ababa peace Agreement, 1972.
• Iraq, Jordan and France, 1980-81, in a SANU party delegation.
• Libya in a SSPA and Sudan Rural Solidarity delegation in 1986.
• Uganda in 1987 in USAP delegation.
• Italy, USA and Great Britain in 1996 in the United Democratic Salvation Front (UDSF) delegation.
• Botovana, Zimbabwe, Uganda in a UDSF delegation.
• Germany in company of Riek Machar, 1999.

Distinguished deeds and awards:

• Chairman of the 39 Advisory Committee that drafted and prepared the document discussed and led to the Addis Ababa Agreement 1972.
• Chairman of the USAP 4 Men Committee, that came together with Riek Machar’s group, Southern Sudan Independence Movement/Army, SSIM/A drafted and prepared the document discussed and led to the Sudan Peace Agreement, 1997.
• Signatory to the Sudan Peace Agreement 1997.

(ST)