The paramount chief of Greater Leer, Gideon Bading Jageah, died last Sunday 1 May in Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp.

Bading was 76 years old and is survived by six wives and many children and grandchildren.

The paramount chief led a long career in public service and conflict resolution.

Born in Rubchaey in 1942, Bading worked as a trader at Adok port in Leer in 1972 until he was later appointed as sub head-chief of Leer county, a position he held until 2006. 

 Along the way, he participated in a number of peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives.

As a sub-chief, he contributed in sending children to school in Ethiopia in compliance with SPLM/A policy of sending child soldiers to school in 1988.

Bading mediated the conflict between the Lou and Jikany Nuer in Akobo in 1993 and was part of the mediation team of the Khartoum Peace Agreement in Pagak in 1997.

In the same year 1997 Bading was sent to Bar el Ghazal to Wunlit to negotiate peace between the Nuer and Dinka which led to signing of the groundbreaking Wunlit Peace Accord. Fighting between the Nuer and Dinka stopped for some years over cattle, later resulting in grazing together of the two communities from 1999 to 2004. 

Bading successfully participated in the mediation between SPLA rivals John Garang and Riek Machar as well to leave their differences behind. He then traveled to speak on behalf of the southern Unity people during the CPA peace process.

After peace was signed between Khartoum and the SPLA in 2005, Bading was appointed paramount chief of Greater Leer, including Panyijiar, Mayandit, Leer, and Koch counties, a position he held until his death.

In 2011, the Unity state governor appointed him as head of two traditional compensation courts to solve cases of killings between the Leek and Bul Nuer of Rubkona and Mayom counties, respectively.

He oversaw those courts until 2013, when war broke out in South Sudan. It was then that his life took a harsh turn.

South Sudan's war forced the elderly Bading to flee his home to the bush of Toc Riak, an island along the Nile swamps near Thonyor in Leer county. Last November, he was airlifted to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where he stayed until his death.

Memorials for Bading took place around South Sudan in Thonyor, Juba, and Bentiu as well as internationally at Kakuma refugee camp and Biayella camp in Uganda.

Madeng Latjor Madengm a lawyer and an elder of Leer County, described the death of the paramount chief as “like a disappearance of the sunlight in the middle of daylight. It’s a big loss to us in Leer, it’s a big loss for the Nuer, and it’s a big loss for South Sudan."

Robbert Ruai Kuol, the military governor of the SPLM-IO in Unity, said Badig was a good leader and a blessing to his people.

Bading's life history was read aloud in the Juba UN base for displaced people, where thousands turned up to pray.

The Unity State Student Union in Uganda also shared its condolences on the loss of the chief.