A Tribute to Bona Malual Madut Ring
Professor Francis Deng shared a heartfelt tribute to Bona Malual Madut Ring, a patriotic leader who made significant contributions to the destiny of their nation. For him, Bona was not just a partner in service but also a dear brother and closest friend. The loss of Bona is still difficult to accept, yet it is a part of life that everyone must face eventually. Bona demonstrated exceptional courage in the face of danger and fearlessly expressed his opinions through both speech and writing, embodying what he called “fighting with the tongue and the pen.”
Bona and Professor Deng were age-mates. According to Bona, Chief Benjamin Lang Juuk, who was literate, recorded 1938 as his birth year. Although the specifics of Professor Deng’s birth were not recorded, he could trace his birth to August 1938. Their passports, typical of the pattern in Sudan at the time, showed them as born on January 1, 1938, the date of independence from colonial rule. Once, when they showed their passports at the State Department in Washington, the receptionist asked whether they were twins.
Early Encounters and Political Activism
According to Bona, they first met as children when he accompanied his father, Chief Madut Ring, who was the age-mate and friend of Professor Deng’s father, who came to Abyei for an inter-tribal meeting around 1945. They stayed in their home. Professor Deng’s memory of that occasion is foggy, but he does remember chiefs and a child staying in their home for that occasion.
In the 1960s, Professor Deng began to hear the name of Bona Malual as a politically active young man, then as the editor of the influential South Sudanese newspaper, The Vigilant, which courageously documented and exposed the horrific atrocities raging in South Sudan. The government prosecuted him for that, but he was exonerated on appeal. He later emerged as one of the founders of the Southern Front, which was championing the Southern Sudanese cause for self-determination.
Personal Connection and Collaboration
Professor Deng got to know Bona personally in 1968 when, as a member of Parliament, he visited the United States and was in New York City. Professor Deng was in New Haven doing his doctorate in law at Yale University. Bona called him, and they met and bonded. He then paid a return visit to New Haven, and their relationship deepened.
A year later, specifically in August 1969, several months after the May takeover of power by Colonel Jaafar Nimeiri, Professor Deng and his brother Bol went home to their dying father. They arrived in Khartoum and settled in a hotel. Professor Deng contacted Abel Alier, who had been his senior colleague in the Khartoum University Faculty of Law. Abel was then a minister in Nimeiri’s cabinet. Abel and Bona were political partners and leaders in the Southern Front. Abel immediately informed Bona about their arrival, and Bona promptly came to them in the hotel. He insisted that they stay with him in his house. From that time on, he became a close partner in caring for their father.
Contributions to Peace Agreements
One day, Bona and Professor Deng visited Father in the hospital. As they were leaving his room, Father called Professor Deng back as Bona exited. He spoke very highly of Bona and advised them to work closely with him. It was obvious to Professor Deng that Bona must have done things that left a profound impression on Father. He later learned that Bona, as an influential member of Parliament, defended Father in his confrontation with the Governor of Kordofan by gaining the support of the Minister of Interior against the governor. That governor had served in the South and was notoriously known for his antagonism against Southerners in general and tribal chiefs in particular.
Bona and Professor Deng reconnected when Bona left the country to pursue his studies in the United States. They shared Professor Deng’s tiny apartment until Bona enrolled in the University. From that time until his death, they worked closely together and consulted on national issues. This clearly entailed so many activities that cannot be recounted in this brief tribute. Professor Deng can only mention a few highlights. They contributed quite significantly to both the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement and to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that granted South Sudan the right of self-determination and led to the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011.
Leadership Roles and Heroic Acts
Bona and Professor Deng were then appointed in Nimeiri’s government, Bona as Deputy Minister of Information and Culture, from which he was promoted Minister of State and then full Minister. Professor Deng was appointed Ambassador to Scandinavia, promoted Ambassador to Washington and then Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Bona was very innovative and formative in transforming and technologically upgrading the ministry of culture and information. He developed very close relationships with the President. Professor Deng also worked very closely both with Dr. Mansour Khalid as Minister of Foreign Affairs and with President Nimeiri. In their respective positions, they worked in close collaboration with their Southern compatriots to coordinate their activities and do what they could to promote the interest of Southern Sudan at the center.
During the so-called Libyan invasion by the Libya-based opposition, under the leadership of Sadig al-Mahdi, Bona played a truly heroic role. Rather than remain secure in his house out of danger, he drove through treacherous streets to his office and literally assumed control in running the show under dangerous conditions. Using Radio Juba, and in partnership with the Southern Regional Government and allies in the wider region, specifically Egypt, Bona contributed effectively to crushing the attack. Senior military officers in the government would later talk to Professor Deng in raving praise of Bona as a brave man and the courageous role he played in thwarting the attack.
Conflict and Mediation Efforts
When Nimeiri reconciled with the exile opposition barely a year later, and bearing in mind the fact that those were people who had vehemently rejected the Addis Ababa Agreement, Bona opposed the reconciliation as posing a threat to the Addis Agreement and against the south. Professor Deng, on the other hand, supported it as a broadening of the national consensus. He tried to mediate between Bona and Sadig, but to no avail. Bona decided to resign, but Nimeiri resisted his resignation. They compromised by granting Bona a study leave, and he went to Oxford. He however remained a member of the Sudan Socialist Union Political bureau and periodically returned to Khartoum for meetings.
Later, Abel Alier, in his second term as President of the High Executive Council, appointed Bona as Minister of Industry. Relations between the Southern Sudan Regional Government and President Nimeiri were becoming increasingly acrimonious, especially when Nimeiri divided the South into three weaker regions based on the old provinces of Bahr el Ghazal, Equatoria, and Upper Nile. With respect to the management of the petroleum sector, the central government took the crude from the South to be refined in the North. That generated a confrontation in which Bona played a critical role.
Arrest and Detention
On Professor Deng’s visit back to Khartoum to attend the meeting of the Sudan Socialist Union Central Committee, he landed on the massive detentions of leading members of the Southern regional government, and about twenty Ngok Dinka leaders, including the Paramount Chief Kuol Adol Deng, and Dr. Zachariah Bol Deng, who had been successively the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Minister of Health. The situation in the South was boiling and reaching an explosion point. Abyei had staged a rebellion under the leadership of our brother Michael Miokol Deng that was creeping to the South. During the meetings of the Central Committee, Governors of both Kordofan and Bahr el Ghazal were placing the blame for the unrest on Abyei, and specifically our family of Deng Majok. Professor Deng wanted to speak, but the Chairman, Vice President Omer Mohamed Eltayeb, who was also the Chief of National Security, advised him against speaking and asked him to see him in his office to discuss the situation.
In their discussion, Professor Deng proposed taking an initiative on both situations in South Sudan and Abyei which were the causes of the mass detentions. On South Sudan, he proposed that General Mohamed Al-Baghir, the respected former Vice President, be mandated to conduct unity negotiations among the Southern leaders, while he undertook to mediate over the Abyei issue. Omer Mohamed Eltayeb welcomed his proposal but needed Nimeiri’s authorization. He also briefed key Southern leaders, Abel Alier, Joseph Lago, and Bona Malual on his initiative, and all of them were supportive.
After waiting for a feedback from the Vice President for a period of time that signaled discouraging prospects, he called him with enthusiasm to tell him that President Nimeiri had warmly welcomed his mediation over Abyei. But the President appeared to have reneged on Al-Baghir mediating the unity of Southern Sudanese conflict. Baghir himself intimated to Professor Deng that he thought Nimeiri was intent on dividing the South and abrogating the Addis Ababa Agreement and would therefore not want the South to get united. His initiative went on for months and successfully ended with the release of the Ngok Dinka detainees which was enthusiastically welcomed and celebrated as though a second Addis Ababa Agreement.
Despite the arrangement Nimeiri reached with Bona to take study leave abroad, their relations continued to deteriorate, especially in light of the role Bona was playing in the South in asserting the rights of the regional government against the central government. Professor Deng remembers Nimeiri posing a question to him about Bona with obvious animosity in his tone, “Why is your friend so ambitious?” It was of course an ironic question coming from a man whose ambitions had made him seize power by force. He did not respond, other through a non-committal gesture.
Legacy and Final Years
The day the Ngok Dinka detainees were released, Bona was arrested and detained. Bona was well treated by the guards and was allowed free visits. They certainly showed respect to him as a leader. On one of Professor Deng’s visits to him, he requested the guards to allow Bona to go with him for a ride to give him a change. The guards granted permission and one of them joined them. They ended their drive around town at Professor Deng’s house for tea. And of course, the guard was with them. He could not help but think of the unique humane character of the Sudanese to allow a detainee that measure of freedom.
Another gesture of the deferential attitude toward Bona even under detention was when Omer Mohamed Eltayed, who, as the security chief, had privileged information about individuals suspected of plotting against the regime, made an exceptional emergency arrangements to immediately take Bona out of the country because of the eminent threat to his safety, presumably from the President. Bona settled in Oxford where he established his monthly journal, The Democratic Gazette, that became a strong voice for the cause of South Sudan internationally.
Bona and Professor Deng continued to work in support of the Southern cause. When the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and Army, SPLM/A, became established, although they were not formally members of the Movement, they worked with the leadership, specifically with the Chairperson, Dr. John Garang de Mabior, in promoting the cause of the South in the United States. Bona often joined Professor Deng and the team they had put together in Washington to promote the Southern cause. He remembers a meeting with their mutual friend, Boutros Ghali, then the UN Secretary-General. Ironically, Boutros scolded them for not joining the SPLM. They retorted by asking whether he would have met with them if they were members of the anti-government rebel movement. Their position was that they were more helpful to the movement outside formal membership of the movement.
John Garang tasked Bona and Professor Deng to represent the SPLM in the Swiss-sponsored bilateral quartet talks in which the government was represented by two men and they represented the Movement. The representatives of the government kept changing and included, at several times, Mutrif Siddig, Mohamed Abdelrahman, Ali Osman, among others, while Bona and Professor Deng remained constant over the entire duration of the initiative. According to John Garang, it was important that they were not card-carrying members of the Movement as that would entitle them to claim them as members if they were happy with their work and deny them, if they were not. They were all happy with that arrangement.
When the IGAD countries under the new leaders in Ethiopia and Eritrea, Meles Zenawi and Isaias Aferworke, undertook to mediate an end to the war in the Sudan. A regional think tank, the Inter-Africa Group under the leadership of an Ethiopian Muslim activist, Abdul Mohamed, formed a resource group to advise the mediators. Bona Malual and Professor Deng were active members of the resource group. On hearing of Bona’s passing, Abdul Mohamed sent him a message which included this paragraph: “My dear Dr. Francis, I was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of your dear friend and lifelong brother, Bona Malual. Please accept my heartfelt condolences and deep solidarity at this difficult moment … You and Bona have always been a joy to see together — your friendship was one of intellect, respect, and shared patriotism. You argued passionately, but always in the spirit of love for Sudan and for Africa.”
Final Contributions and Legacy
In the National Dialogue that President Kiir initiated in 2017 to deliberate on issues of peace, unity, and nation-building in South Sudan, Bona and Professor Deng were members of the Steering Committee. Bona was the Rapporteur, and, Professor Deng was one of two Deputy Rapporteurs. At the suggestion of Bona, Professor Deng was designated as the Spokesperson of the steering Committee. And on his initiative, one of the sub-committees that conducted grassroots consultations was on Abyei. National Dialogue was a process that comprehensively dealt with the political, economic, social, and cultural challenges of peace, security and nation-building in the country.
Bona and Professor Deng were always seen together, coming into the meeting and leaving in one car, even though they each had a car, sharing their meals and afternoon rea-coffee, and attending diplomatic and social functions together, and yet vehemently disagreeing in a manner that was entertaining to their colleagues. The combination of their unshakable friendship with frequent disagreements on issues was a source of entertainment to their colleagues who, openly seemed to enjoy it, reminiscent of what Abdul Mohamed alluded to in his recollection of the IGAD mediation process. Abu Ajaj, Bona’s trusted aide, used to refer to Bona and Professor Deng as Teiman, Twins.
After four years of intensive work, they documented the proceedings of the national dialogue in five volumes which were professionally produced with the generous support of the United Nations Development Program, UNDP, in South Sudan. Bona and Professor Deng wrote the same Foreword.
Although Bona and Professor Deng often disagreed on issues, and their relations were complex, Professor Deng has no hesitation in saying that he considered Bona Malual both a dear brother and his best friend. Despite their complicated and sometimes contentious relationship, which people generally found difficult to understand, they did a great deal together in the service of their people and their country. Their disagreements far from being divisive, was a source of complementarity and mutual reinforcement in pursuit of their shared interests in serving their country and people.
Although Bona will be sorely missed, the legacy of his service to their people and the nation will endure. In addition to some form of life after death, now reinforced by the Christian and Muslim concepts of everlasting life in the hereafter, the Dinka believe in a concept known as kooc e nhom, holding the head of the dead person up right. It is a principle of permanent identity and influence through the memory of the dead by the living, children, relatives, friends and all those one has touched in memorable way. By those criteria, there is little doubt Bona will continue to live in their memory and for generations to come. And may the Almighty God also rest his soul in eternal peace.
