They were young, inexperienced idealists out to change the course of history And, over the ensuing decades, these boys and girls grew into combat-ready men and women, egged on by Dr. John Garang. Their experiences show that war, even a justified war, is not a tea-party. But, at least, they live in the satisfaction that what they sacrificed for has been attained.
Until recently press secretary at the presidency and, later, public diplomacy officer at the US Consulate, Luka Mariak Hol is one of the four survivors from among a batch of 12 who graduated first from Cuba’s military college and returned home, only to find a messy situation, with Mengistu Haile Miriam’s Ethiopia regime failing, Somalia disintegrating, and a split within the rebel ranks that would claim the lives of many of the original 12, with Mariak, a platoon commander and witness to the traumatizing Bor Massacre, miraculously living to tell the story. Badru Mulumba has a conversation with Luka Mariak Hol:
Q. Four years ago, many thought Cuba-trained returnees would be at the forefront of the country’s transformation. Why did that flame fizzle out?
I don’t think we have abandoned the concept that we have to be there at the forefront. The most important thing is to get the positions. Whether ministers, undersecretaries. That’s the only thing missing but we are working on it. The best thing for now is to work and serve our people, regardless.
Q. Why has it been hard for your group to get into high level positions?
I do know that a lot of us are qualified. We have doctors. We those who went to the military academy, including myself. They came back qualified and ready to help. That was the only assignment given to us when we left.
Dr. John Garang gave a pen to one of our Red Army, Madit; he’s now a doctor. He said, instead of you using a gun to go to the frontline – you are very young, the best thing for you is to go study, then come back help your people. Madit came back with the same pen in 2009 and gave the pen to President Kiir. He said, you know this is what you told us when we went to Cuba and I am bringing back the same pen you gave us.
I am sure that after Independence they will think of us so that we can help develop a new country. The situation in the interim period was not easy. Our leaders have been very busy to ensure the CPA was implemented so that we could go to a peaceful phase.
Q. How did Madit preserve that pen for so long?
It was not the same pen. It was just saying, ‘This is what you gave me last time. And now I am bringing it back. This was the mission. I completed it’.
Q. Many of you are very passionate about things to do with this country’s future
When we joined the SPLA/M we were very young. We had never been involved in any politics. We were in school. It was the most honest decision. Even though we were very young we sympathized with the cause of the movement. That feeling continued with us until we got trained in Ethiopia to be soldiers.
Our hope that time was to go back and fight but Dr. Garang decided that we were very young to go to war. He said the best thing was to go study so that after the liberation we would come back and help our people. That was the feeling we all had.
We are very emotional about Independence. We feel we have contributed to this liberation. Even though some are not working anywhere, we are not abandoning this mission to help the people of South Sudan.
Q. You, personally, are emotional as well.
I joined the SPLA on the April 24, 1984. I was 14. It’s a long way from Sudan to Ethiopia.
It was one month walking. We didn’t know about guns. In Ethiopia we got trained. It took us very long time up to now. If you imagine the history and the whole trajectory – from the beginning were you had to suffer and you had to go to war and fight, you have seen comrades killed. And now you’ve seen the fruits of your labor, for me it’s very emotional to see the flag raised.
It’s not a feeling of pain. It’s a feeling of joy. You are enjoying the fruits of what our people died for. This is the result. The flag has been raised. And that’s the flag of the Republic of South Sudan. It’s very emotional for us.
Q. What is your memory of that walk to Ethiopia?
It was not good for a young person. But we were trained as young to endure. In many cultures young people are trained to be tough because the conditions are not favorable for you to be weak when it even comes to walking or going without food, water. It’s a training that we had before. We made it. It was not easy for everybody, even the old. Young people were even better than the old people.
Q. How was journey like?
It was full of death, hunger, suffering. A lot of people suffered. I suffered. I fell sick, I had no shoes because when I was going I had a pair of sandals, which wore off. I threw them away. There was no water. It was hot. We decided that the best thing was to walk at night. There were lions, all kinds of dangerous animals, snakes. People died. If you remained behind because you were too tired you were eaten by the lions or hyenas.
Q. It looks like you were a large group
There were two battalions gathered together. They were not battalions in the real sense. We were civilians and students who wanted to go. We were combined with soldiers from the Sudanese army who had joined the SPLA. They were the only few who carried guns, taking us to Ethiopia.
Q. How did you decide you were going to Ethiopia when, you probably, didn’t even know where Ethiopia was?
We were aware of what was going on in the south. Especially in 1983 we knew what was going on with the Arabs when they began to introduce the Islamic laws. Every student knew that this was going to get worse. We were going to be Islamised. We were going to be Arabised. We would have no right over our heritage as Africans. We knew it.
When we heard that there was a movement in Ethiopia, started by Dr. John Garang, we knew that if we didn’t join that movement, we would be recruited by the northern government and we would have to fight our own brothers. The choice was either you stay and fight your own people or you go and join your own brothers so that you can come back and fight as a group.
We would talk about it as students to do something. one day one of our colleagues said, let’s join. We just told our families were leaving.
Q. How did your parents take it?
Mine realized that the situation was not good and if I remained in the country something bad would happen to me. So they wished me good luck. My mother told me – my father is not alive – that God will be with you and then you would come back. I will see you again.
Q. Ethiopia: was it a tea-party as some may have thought?
On the way to Ethiopia we met SPLA battalion called Tiger and Timsah (crocodile). They welcomed us. They knew that the enemy was around the area. They escorted us to Bilpam.
Q. Some say Ethiopia was tougher than life along the journey?
You didn’t have nutritious food. Diarrhoea was there, malaria. A lot of people died. There was no proper medical attention. But this was a training. You all went prepared to die. If you survived, well and good. Our group, the Red Army, the smallest people, remained in Bilpham. The older ones went to Itanga.
Q. You say Dr. John Garang gave you pens; any fond memories of him?
He is someone that I have stayed with. In Cuba he visited several times. When I came back I stayed with him in his headquarter. A very smart human being; a very focused person. He knew what he wanted politically. He was equipped militarily. It’s because of John Garang that we are here today. That’s why we have raised that flag because what he did is what motivated many of us to continue fighting. Those who fought did because they were convinced by John Garang.
Q. How was it for you when you first met the man?
I was 14 when he came to Bilpham. We were told that we were Red Cross – that was the name given to us. We were singing songs in the name of Red Cross. He came to Bilpham, he addressed us, telling us, ‘You’re not Red Cross; Red Cross is an international organization. Your name will be the Red Army’. And he gave us the example of the Red Army in the Soviet Union. That’s how we got our name, Red Army. We were the first Red Army to be formed in the SPLM/A. We continued being Red Army, even when we grew up.
Some people would joke that you’re no longer Red Army, you’re Black Army, because you’re not young. That is my first memory of Garang. He told us a lot of good things, what we should do while we are fighting. I got convinced from that day when we were young that this cause was worth fighting. Whatever he told us was the truth. I felt it. I got that conviction to stay a member of the SPLM/A until the end. I will never quit until the end of my life. That’s my commitment.
Q. How do you remember Dr. John?
He was a guy you would love to be around all the time. He could teach you by saying things you’d never heard before. He would make you happy when you’re not okay, mentally and physically. Politically, you could learn a lot about how to talk to people. He didn’t sleep. He could stay up the whole night, without sleep, and tomorrow he would continue working. It’s because of his work that we are here today.
Q. How did you end up in Cuba?
We graduated in Bilpham after 9 months military training. We were hoping that we were going to the battlefield. From Bilpham there was a battalion in Bongo, that was graduating the same day. We were taken to Bongo to graduate with the same Division there. Back in Bilpham, Cuban friends came and started training us, teaching us the language. They took us from Bilpham to a Port in Ethiopia. A cruise ship took us to Cuba. It was 24 days. Cubans welcomed us. We all like Cuban people.
Q. How was it like on that ship?
It was very good, a place where you could enjoy the scenery. We saw lights at night and many towns along the Ocean.
It was the first time for me to be in that thing. I was excited. It was amazing for me to be sleeping while it is moving on the water. You sleep, you wake up, and it still moves.
You spend days on the Ocean. I had never experienced that before. It’s an experience I would never forget.
Q. You had never been on a boat before?
That was my first time.
Q. You must have been scared
No. I was not scared. I went there as a soldier. I was prepared for anything.
Q. How many were you?
Six hundred of us. The first half went, then the second half followed. The second group came flying.
Q. What did Cuba teach you?
I spent three and half years in Cuba. I went in early 1985, attended high school, then went to Military College from 1987 to 1989. I graduated with a golden diploma. I was top of my class in the military college. I came back as an officer to the SPLA.
Q. What is the best lesson you carried back?
Perhaps, the best is learning the spirit of a revolutionary, the spirit of standing with your leaders to the end. The Cubans are very committed and we learn a lot from the Cubans. When they say revolution they mean it. They were there to defend their revolution more than anyone at the time. I learnt that lesson more than anything else. You’ve to be a true revolutionary. That spirit is still with us.
That is the best thing I took from Cuba.
Q. How did you end up in the John Garang headquarters?
I was one of the best students. I came back. We were deployed. We were 12 officers deployed. I was personally deployed to his headquarter. I stayed there until the split of the SPLM/A.
Q. Where are your 11 colleagues?
Eight are gone. Natural causes two of them. The rest died on the battlefront. The first guy – a commander of the Tank Unit – was killed on Yei Road. Albino was killed in Bor. He was a friend of mine. Two of our friends were killed in Bor. The other was killed in Juba, here.
Q. You were 600 who went to Cuba, why only twelve?
We were the first group to finish senior school before we went to military College. We were 14. Two of us were disqualified after physical examinations.
Q. At John Garang’s headquarters you were not merely sitting, filing paper. I presume you were still a fighter. What was your toughest battle?
It’s something I am not going to elaborate upon. It’s something we still have to hold to our hearts. It’s very sad. There’s nothing good about it. It’s not something you want to be even saying. But there were other battles. One was when in 1991 Omar Bashir sent soldiers to finish off SPLA. At the time I was leading a platoon in Bor.
Q. Some people say the Cubans were trained but they run away
I don’t know of any who run away from the battlefront. We would have been 12 until today. Those who were killed, I don’t think they were killed running. They were killed going in front and fighting.
Q. It’s true that many of you have settled in Latin America, Canada, Australia, right?
That is because the second group that came after me – in 91 — they came and they were in Uganda. They were waiting for SPLM to receive them and take them to wherever they had to deploy. Nobody went to receive them.
Most went from Uganda to Kenya, from Kenya to Australia. Some went to the US. Some went to Canada. I went to the US in 1995, but that was after we had already fought the toughest battles. I was staying in the house of John Garang and I left in 1995. I spent ten years in the US. I returned in 2006. From there I went to the office of the President as a Press Officer. I moved to the US Consulate in Public Diplomacy section.
Q. How did you get back to John Garang’s House a second time?
We were going back to Maridi, me and my bodyguard, because I was given permission to go home. I had to go to Maridi to go to my village. I met comrade Gier chaung Alounga. He ordered me not to go. Then he put me into a signal training unit before he sent me to Dr. John’s House.
Q. Would you know why Gier chose you and not many others?
I don’t know why. He’s the one who told me not to go.
Q. Your friends find you extremely intelligent.
I don’t know whether I have turned out to be the best that I want to be. But I think that life is a simple thing that we have to take the way it’s. I think I am like anybody. May be the difference is: I can express myself. If something has to be said, I say it.
Q. What made you this way, Cuba or the battlefield?
It’s something I picked up in Cuba.
I was the first to be taken to the national radio and I was the SPLM spokesperson, telling Cubans how the movement started – in Spanish that time. Me and Martha William Nyoun were the two southern Sudanese taken to the radio to speak about Sudan and how the war started. At that time we were in high school.
Q. Did Fidel Castro ever address you?
Not when I was there. But he was aware we were there because they brought a lot of Africans to Cuba.
But Raul Castro once addressed us.
Q. How was progression from a life of war to civilian roles an easy progression?
It’s something I learned in Cuba — adapting. Any soldier must learn that when it’s a military situation you act as a soldier. When the situation is civilian you have to act like civilians. You must be like them, you must treat them nice in order to get the information that you want, and the food you need if you’re hungry.
Q. Looks like you are more comfortable in civilian than in military jobs?
I am comfortable in the civilian jobs. But I love the army. I don’t want to go back to the army. It’s not necessary. But when it becomes necessary to go back to the SPLA, when there is war, that would be the time for me to go back.
5 THINGS ABOUT: LUKA MARIAK
STRUGGLE:
- Joined SPLA at 14 on April 24, 1984
- In first group sent to military training college in Cuba
- One of only four surviving members of 11 officers commissioned upon return and stationed at John Garang’s headquarters in 1989
- Led a platoon in 1991
- Redeployed by Gier Alounga to John Garang’s house in 1994
CUBAN MEMORIES:
- Appeared, alongside Martha William Nyoun, on Cuba’s national radio to explain to Cubans why south Sudan was at war.
AWARDS:
- Golden Diploma for graduating top of the class at Cuba’ Military College
MEMORIES OF DR.JOHN:
- A very smart human being; a very focused person. He knew what he wanted politically. He was equipped militarily. It’s because of John Garang that we are here today
CURRENT DEPLOYMENT:
- Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs as deputy director for Warrap
