Sudan’s Al Neelain University on Saturday awarded an honorary doctorate to South Sudan’s SPLA Chief of Staff Gen. Paul Malong Awan in a ceremony organized in Juba in the presence of President Salva Kiir and several government officials.
The award is in recognition of Malong’s role in peaceful coexistence between the Rizeigat, Misseriya and Dinka Malual during his time in office as governor of Northern Bahr al Ghazal State before being appointed as SPLA chief.
Speaking during the certificate awarding ceremony, Al Rashid Ismail, representative of Al Neelain University in South Sudan, said that they decided to award an honorary doctorate to Paul Malong for encouraging social peace between the Misseriya, Rizeigat and Dinka Malual tribes.
Ismail pointed out that the university administration also decided to offer 100 scholarships for South Sudan students in Malong’s name and that the Faculty of Pharmacology will be renamed as Paul Malong College.
Al Neelain University had opened a centre for distance learning in South Sudan.
For his part, South Sudan President Salva Kiir urged representatives of the Misseriya tribe who were attending the ceremony not to dishonour the signed peace agreement with the Dinka Malual and Misseriya tribes.
He emphasized the importance of unity between the three tribes. Kiir commended the University for awarding an honorary doctorate to Gen. Paul Malong.
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