William Deng

William Deng Nhial was the political leader of the Sudan African National Union, SANU, from 1962 to 1968. He was one of founders of the Anya Nya Military Wing of the Liberation of Southern Sudan, fighting for the independence of Southern Sudan. He was ambushed and killed by Sudan's army on 5 May 1968 at Cueibet, on his way from Rumbek to Tonj. He was elected unopposed. The Sudan government denied to have authorised the assassination. No investigation was conducted. Though eyewitnesses at Cueibet village and SANU investigation committee confirmed confirmed the assassins to be the Sudan army.

William Deng was of Dinka origin, and was born in Tonj, then in Bahr al-Ghazal Provinc. He joined the government as an administrator. William Deng believed in PanAfrican Democratic Socialism, and in solidarity with African Sudanese in resistance to Arab colonialism. He aimed for political partnership with indigenous African Sudanese people of Nuba, Fur, Beja, Nubia, Ingesenia and other parts of northern Sudan. These African groups formed the Congress of New Forces,CNF, in the Constituent Assembly in 1967/68, to oppose the Government of the then Prime Minister, Mohamed Ahmed Mahagoup of the Umma party.

Some time after the army took power in 1958, William Deng fled into exile, as did other southern politicians including Fr. Saturnino Ohure, Joseph Oduho and Alexis Bakumba. Saturnino Ohure and Joseph Oduho moved from Uganda to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were joined by William Deng and founded the Sudan African Closed Districts National Union (SACDNU). William Deng was appointed Secretary-General of SACNDU in 1962. William Deng and Joseph Oduho co-authored the first book ever in 1962: "The Problem of the Southern Sudan." In that book, they declared arms struggle for independence of Southern Sudan from the minority Arab dominated, colonial government of Khartoum/Sudan.

The exiles moved back to Kampala in Uganda in 1963, with the movement renamed the Sudan African National Union (SANU). The new name was designed to show solidarity with other African nationalist movements of the period. In Kampala SANU became the voice of the 60,000 refugees who had fled to camps in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, but was unable to establish a political presence in Sudan. The SANU leaders did manage to organize the military Wing of SANU, the Anya Nya, which began operating in Southern Sudan in 1963, conducting gorrila raids and largely responsible for military operations and targets.

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