The Sudan Handbook

336 thE sudan handbook

PhD in Agricultural Economics. In 1983 he became leader of the SPLM/A,

with the stated aim of creating a democratic, secular and united ‘New

Sudan’. He was a charismatic and strong leader, but his often authori-

tarian suppression of dissent earned him many opponents in the south.

He died in a helicopter crash three weeks after being sworn in as First

Vice-President of Sudan, following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement

of 2005. News of his death sparked violent protests by southerners in

Khartoum.

JosEPhinE Bakhita (d.1947). Roman Catholic saint. Born in the

second half of the nineteenth century in Darfur, Josephine Bakhita was

kidnapped as a child by slave traders, taken east to El-Obeid and sold,

eventually, to an Italian diplomat who brought her to Italy and left her in

the custody of the Canossian Sisters in Venice. In 1890 she was baptized.

Following a dispute with the diplomat, an Italian court ruled that she was

no longer a slave and in 1896 she chose to join the order of the Canossian

Sisters. She died in 1947. In October 2000, she was declared a saint by the

Catholic Church. After the outbreak of conflict in Darfur in 2003 her fame

began to spread through Sudan’s Catholic community. In 2006, Bakhita

Radio Station was established by the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba.

JosEPh LaGu (b.1931). Politician. Born in Moli, in the Madi area eighty

miles south of Juba, he was admitted to Sudan Military College in 1958

and posted to the 10th Battalion of the Northern Command. In June 1963

he left the army and joined other southern exiles in Kampala, Uganda.

With backing from Israel, he was able to unite the various units of the

southern rebel movement, Anyanya, under his command. In 1972 he

signed the Addis Ababa Agreement. After retiring from the Army, he

occupied a number of high-ranking political positions including Presi-

dent of the High Executive Council of the Southern Regional Assembly,

Second Vice-President of Sudan under President Nimeiri, and Sudanese

Ambassador to the UN.

The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors

(www.riftvalley.net).