Bona Malwal Madut, a veteran South Sudanese journalist, politician and one of the country’s most influential post-independence figures, has died aged 97, family members said on Sunday.
His death marks the passing of a towering figure whose career spanned Sudan’s first civil war, the 1972 peace deal that granted the south autonomy, the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, and South Sudan’s eventual independence in 2011.
A relative, who asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak publicly, confirmed Malwal’s death to Radio Tamazuj. There was no immediate official statement from the government.
Malwal’s son, Akuei Bona Malwal, who serves as South Sudan’s deputy foreign minister, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Journalist turned politician
Born in 1928 in Bahr el Ghazal, Malwal, who hailed from Twic in Warrap State, was among the first generation of southern Sudanese to study in the United States, earning degrees from Indiana University and Columbia University.
His late father, Sultan Madut Ring, was the paramount chief of the Ajakuac section.
Malwal began his career in journalism, founding and editing newspapers including The Vigilant and the Sudan Democratic Gazette, which campaigned for the rights of southern Sudanese and later for self-determination.
Following the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement that ended Sudan’s first civil war, Malwal joined the Sudanese government as Minister of Culture and Information, serving from 1973 to 1978.
After an Islamist-backed coup in Khartoum in 1989, he fled into exile in Britain, where he continued his political activism and publishing work.
He returned to Sudan following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 and was appointed Presidential Advisor to then-President Omar al-Bashir, a position he held until South Sudan’s independence in 2011.
Influential voice
Malwal was widely regarded as an outspoken and sometimes polarising figure. He was a strong advocate of southern autonomy and later independence, and after South Sudan seceded from Sudan in 2011, he became a close adviser to President Salva Kiir.
In 2017, he played a leading role in South Sudan’s National Dialogue, a presidential initiative aimed at reconciling rival groups following the civil war that erupted in 2013.
As part of the National Dialogue Steering Committee, Malwal urged citizens to resolve their disputes through discussion.
“Dialogue among our people is the only path to lasting peace,” he told delegates at a 2018 conference.
However, the initiative was boycotted by major opposition movements, including the faction led by then-rebel leader Riek Machar, which dismissed the process as government-driven and lacking independence.
Legacy
Malwal remained active in public life until recent years, frequently warning against corruption and political division that have hindered the young nation’s progress.
“South Sudan has lost the encyclopedia of wisdom and knowledge — Uncle Bol Malwal Madut Ring, the man who achieved what many of his contemporaries never dreamt of,” said Ateny Wek Ateny, a former presidential press secretary. “As a boy and a member of the Southern Front Party Youth League, I met Uncle Bol Malwal for the first time in 1978 when he came to Aweil to visit my uncle, the late Dr. Lawrence Lual Lual Akuey. He was so friendly and inspiring.”
Tributes poured in on social media, with South Sudanese citizens and political figures describing him as a patriot and one of the country’s most influential political figures.
Funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.