Joseph Ukel Abango
Joseph Ukel Abango | |
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Personal details | |
Born | Joseph Ukel Abango January 1939 (age 85) Wau, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (now South Sudan) |
Joseph Ukel Abango (born 1939), commonly known as Joseph Ukel, is a veteran-politician of what is now South Sudan and an educationalist by profession.[1]
Professional career
Joseph Ukel was born in January 1939 in Achot, a village close to the town bau in Bahr el Ghazal, when the Southern part of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was still isolated from the North due to the Closed District Ordinance. Ukel went to the catholic Elementary School between 1950 and 1954 in Mbili, southeast of Wau. When Sudan gained independence from the Condominium colonial rule in 1956, Ukel was attending the government Intermediate School in the Equatorian town of Maridi, where he graduated in 1958.
Staying in Maridi, he qualified as a teacher after completing a training course at the government-run Institute of Education between 1959 and 1962. The same year he started his first teaching-post in the Equatorian town of
When the
Political career
In 1978 Ukel joined politics by contesting and winning his home constituency of Wau East in the elections to the Second People's Regional Assembly in
After the fall of Gaafar Nimeyri’s regime in April 1985, Ukel was a founding member of the “Southern Sudan Political Association’s” (SSPA) political party and in 1986 became its Parliamentary group leader in the national Constituent Assembly of Omdurman.[1] In 1988, the SSPA joined other Southern and Nuba parties in a coalition called the United Sudan African Parties (USAP) that took the lead in organising dialogues with the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).[3] Ukel became a minister of local government in the final coalition government of prime-minister Sadiq al Mahdi (25 April – 30 June 1989).[4]
After the June 1989 coup, USAP was banned like all other parties and went underground. Ukel helped to form the domestic arm of the exiled National Democratic Alliance (NDA), an umbrella of parties and forces opposed to the “National Salvation Revolution” rule of General Omar al-Bashir, and was appointed its secretary general in 1992, while still working as a teacher of English language.[1] When USAP chairman Hilary Logali passed away in 1998, Ukel became his successor.[5] During this period, he was repeatedly detained by al-Bashir's government, the last time between December 2000 and October 2001 on charges of treason and sedition.[6]
Ukel and Alier participated and mediated in the peace talks between the SPLM and al-Bashir's government in
After the independence of South Sudan in July 2011, Ukel was appointed Minister of General Education and served in this office until President Salva Kiir dismissed the whole cabinet in August 2013.[1]
In the 2014
In early 2018, a power struggle between Ukel and Elia Lomuro over control of the political parties alliance was reported.[13]
On 12 September 2018, the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) was signed in Addis, Ukel was one of the six signatories representing the Umbrella Coalition of Political Parties.[14]
However, when the National Dialogue Steering Committee held a regional conference in Wau at the end of February 2019, Ukel reportedly walked out after not been given the chance to address the gathering and resigned from the National Dialogue.[15] In August 2019, Ukel was reportedly arrested in Wau on allegations of supporting the rebel SPLM-IO and put under house arrest in Juba by the National Security Service (NSS).[16] Two months later, in Mid-October, he was released from his confinements and arrived in Khartoum "to seek medical treatment".[17]
References
- ^ a b c d e Kuyok, Abol Kuyok (2015). South Sudan: The Notable Firsts, Bloomington 2015. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. pp. entry "Joseph Ukel".
- ^ Alier, Abel (1992). Southern Sudan – Too Many Agreements Dishonoured. Reading: Ithaka. pp. 2o1.
- ^ Johnson, Douglas (2011). The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars – Peace or Truce. Woodbridge: James Currey. pp. 84, 86.
- JSTOR 4327963.
- ^ a b "Electionnaire.org". Archived from the original on 2012-03-02. Retrieved 2017-07-13.
- ^ "Al-Ahram".
- ^ Johnson, Hilde (2011). Waging Peace in Sudan. Eastbourne: Sussex Academic Press. p. 101.
- ^ Young, John (2012). The Fate of Sudan. London: ZedBooks. p. 160.
- ^ "SudanTribune".
- ^ "SudanTribune".
- ^ "Rebecca Garang says not consulted before appointment into dialogue body - Sudan Tribune: Plural news and views on Sudan". www.sudantribune.com.
- ^ Jale, Richard (4 August 2017). "Parliament Elects Members For East African Parliament". Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ^ Peter, Malish John (Spring 2019). "Deliver Peace Through Power Sharing: A Comparative Analysis" (PDF). The Zambakari Advisory. p. 102.
- ^ Vhumbunu, Clayton Hazvinei (11 February 2019). "Reviving peace in South Sudan through the Revitalised Peace Agreement - Understanding the enablers and possible obstacles". ACCORD. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ Jackson, Opio (6 March 2019). "Wau regional conference recommends federalism". Juba Monitor. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
- ^ "Veteran politician says 'barred' from leaving Juba". Radio Tamazuj. 27 September 2019.
- ^ "Ukel allowed to leave Juba after confinement". Radio Tamazuj. 16 October 2019.