Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol - A man of pleasant rare character ever found in any country

Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol (© SSTV/YouTube)

By: Deng Emmillo Mou

This would serve as a brief background to our most able Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol, a man whose pleasant rare character and legacy is registered and will remain remembered in the history of the Republic of South Sudan. Congratulations General for having done your part.

To those who might have not been aware or knowing of to who Gen. Marial Chanuong is,

Please get it well as briefly explained and narrated below.

Marial Chanuong Yol born in Yirol, an oldest administrative outskirt of the current Lakes State-Rumbek. Left his mother's homeland in 1983 joining the Southern revolutionary movement " Anya-nya two" which later got renamed as the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that revolted against the suppressive Nemeiri regime in Khartoum. General Marial left his ancestral land  for Bilpham Ethiopia in 1983  where he was trained in Iteng SPLM/A military training centre and commissioned with the rank of the 2nd Lt  in 1984. Among other were Gen. Agasio Akoldit Tong, Gen. Bona Bang Dhel, Gen. Garang Mabil Deng, the late Bapa Africa (Gen. Lual Diing Wol) among a few. General Chanuong Yol was such a brave trained officer from several military cadets and academy which made him so unique on how military techniques are put to used as he had been one of the most successful military officer wherever he was assigned by the SPLM/A during the North-South civil war. 

In his returned from Ethiopia, he was commanding the Rhino battalion as one of the task force Commanders and as one of the bravest lower ranking trained  military officers, Chanuong made unforgettable multiples attacked on the three Southern Regions' headquarters of Malakal, Juba and Wau respectively that were heavily occupied by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF).

Gen. Chanuong Marial was the most wonderful military general known in the SPLA/M because of his brave, intelligence and a most loyal officer who could didecate and devote his time to achieving anything expected of him. That gave him credit to deputize Gen. Paul Malong Awan in Aweil 1995-1997 and was also giving military command helping Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit Poil who was in charge of greater Gogrial. Chanuong could move to Aweil where he was officially assigned to deputize Gen. Paul Malong Awan and to Gen. Mathok Gengdit Poil until the office of the then C-In-C (Dr. John Garang de Mabior) officially transferred him to greater Gogrial replacing Gen. Salva Mathok Gengdit in 1998 and he got stationed in Pan-liet Awan. He was commanding Brigade Eight 8 in greater Gogrial as a Commander and that was the time when he was able to mobilize local chiefs and communities to construct feeder roads from Pan-liet Awan to Wunrok and to Alek Aguok that could make an easy access to patrolling in the area.This was the place where he mobilized local chiefs to build the muddy road that could facilitate the military movement to Twic Mayardit where the Muhoraleen used to attack Twic and displaced Twic Community. Gen. Chanuong Yol  managed to completely battle with the enemy until the enemy got depeated. He commanded forces in Gogrial, Awiel, Wau and Twic in 1998 to 2001. He (Chanuong Yol) led forces that captured Gogrial town in 2001 after a very fierce fighting between the Sudan Armed Forces ( SAF) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). It was a fight that nobody knew whether SPLM/A commanded by Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol would capture the heavily armed town with the latest machine guns, unbelievablly, Chanuong made it to the town chanting with SPLM/A slogan of "SPLM/A Oyee!", "SPLM/A Oyee!".

 It was one of the worst battle that successfully achieved by the SPLM/A and actually gave SPLM/A credit, sending a powerful clear signal to the International, Regional and other powerful political actors including the enemy in Khartoum  that SPLM/A revolutionary movement is such a powerful movement that could no longer be militarily suppressed but could opt for Diplomacy.

Chanuong took his time While in Bahr El Ghazal region to convince the communities of Awan Chan, Twic, Aguok, Awan Mou,  Kuac and Apuk, Wau, Tonj and people of Aweil to enroll their children to bush schools in order to be the future leaders of today, a move that is successfully answered today as many graduates now were among the students and the pupils Gen. Chanuong enrolled to bush schools. He opened basic schools in Alek, Panliet, Marial-baai, Tonj and Akon and talked to organizations to support children in bush schools for instance NCA, World Vision International, World Food Programme, Save the Children International and Council of Churches.

Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol did not stop mobilizing local chiefs rather extended the same mission to the greater Lakes State as he was one of the SPLM/A Commanders that opened Mapuordit in the current Yirol West County as one of the bush schools that would serve an SPLM/A interest in enrolling children to schools. Because of the air bombardments that Khartoum government was seriously doing across the three regions of the southern part of Bahr El Ghazal, Equatoria and Upper Nile, bush schools as an idea of the SPLM/A implemented by its Commanders, those of Gen. Chanuong helped so much in lives saving as well as introducing children and exposing children in bush schools to know about the contemporary world. Congratulations to Baba Gen. Marial for having helped me to realize who I am today.

Gen. Chanuong in 1998, joined the forces under Kuanyin Bol and Atem Koch (Gen. Gualdit). In Wau as an SPLM/A top secret plan to fight alongside Karubino Kuanyin forces inorder to overthrow and capture Wau. Chanuong was the most trustworthy military officer who could be sent to any SPLM/A secret mission. He was greatly seen by the late Dr. John Garang and his bravest deputy Gen. Salva Kiir Mayardit, the current president of the Republic of South Sudan that he (Gen) Chanuong was the only officer who could execute the mission as needed, he joined Karubino Kuanyin Bol with his forces. They successfully made the mission that became unfortunate after many hours of capture. Chanuong came out with Gen. Kuanyin and Gualdit. And successfully, Kuanyin forces were peacefully integrated into the SPLM/A.

In 2005-2007 December, Gen. Chanuong was officially assigned with a responsibility to command Joint Integrated Units (JIU) forces  in Malakal the current headquarters of Upper Nile State. Chanuong did it to the best of his personality and command honor as expected of him and required by the comprehensive Peace  agreement in 2005. He did that mission very well to the best of his ability which also gave honor to him and made the appointing authority so happy, therefore, assigned him again to other higher position in Juba where he became an overall commander until on 20th April 2011 when he send-off the last armed troop of the forces of the enemy to boat  leaving Southern Sudan for Khartoum at around 10:30 AM. 

Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol from 2011after he successfully send-off the last armed troops of the enemy and after he successfully executed what was expected of him to peacefully command joined integrated units (JIU),  he was appointed Commander of the Tiger Division nine 9 which he successfully organized to the best of a presidential guards' unit ever found in the world.

Chanuong trainined the forces on how they would raise and honor the flag of South Sudan in 2011 since everybody was new to the system. Chanuong. As an experienced Gen. He successfully made it to the best of our expectations, exactly on 9th July 2011. The flag of South was raised and the occasion which was attended by heads of States and Governments was successfully celebrated. A successful move that left the selves claimed neighbors of to how South Sudanese knew how to raise a country's flag without failure and fear.

He has been and  is such a rare man and a military discipline officer who has not ever betrayed this country and its people., His calleagues and people in this country know that General Marial is someone who has dedicated his live and almost the entire for this country.

He has not been one time  accused of corrupting  public resources, he is very honest and believes in accountability and transparency. He loves SPLM, he believes in SPLM, its vision and doctrine, he will remain as an  SPLM prominent leader.

This makes everyone proud that Yirol is a home of historical bravest, loyal and committed people. As such of Gen. Marial Yol who had been to the system since 1983 and had been tirelessly working to make sure that he delivers services to the best of his ability. Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol is our living dictionary and may God bless him as he continues serving his people.

Dear Yirol Citizens,

We are grateful for you owned a very nice piece of description in the political history of the Republic of South Sudan. Starting from Tokmac Deng, the then leader of the white flag in the Sudanese identification and nationalism. He was a man who fought so much with British Administration, the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium rule. He successfully made the Condominium administration convince in granting Sudanese an identity. A struggled that resulted into granting Sudanese people their independence and nationalization and sudanization of the civil service positions. Therefore, may God bless you all abundantly as you keep protecting your history.

Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol is another brave and proud SPLM/A officer that did lots that still brings history to Yirol people and citizens. We would like to take this chance to say, Congratulations to Gen. Marial Chanuong Yol and the Yirol people for your home has become a place where true leaders are born. 

Dear Excellency the President Salva Kiir Mayardit,

It's our profound gratitude and appreciation to you for having taken one of the painful  bold decision to revert the country back to 10 states and 3 Administrative Areas. This is a true sign of a leader that leads people. You deserve round applause from the citizens and may God bless you always.

We have taken this opportunity to write about Gen. Chanuong's achievements during his service in the SPLM/A which you were his Commander and we equally believed that you know more about this Gen. Who so much executed most of the missions as expected. We really believe that these are just some of the Gen. Marial Chanuong's achievements but not all. We would like to publicly say that these are type of people the country leadership should be proud of and they are people who deserve more chances as citizens need their commitment to service delivery.

Chanuong deserves an assignment either to the state administration or within the country's headquarters, Juba.

We strongly believed that he would be one of the best you wanted to help you in furthering service delivery. Gen. Yol is being loved so much and he is such a person you would not regret in appointing him the Governor of the state.

These above are truly our words and have neither been influenced by anyone nor being used as others could perceived.

We are South Sudanese and we are people who could analyse and evaluate personalities based on how each had been assigned to different positions since the inception of the movement.

The next article would entail more about him (Gen.Chanuong Marial Yol).

The writer is a  South Sudanese Citizen, He can be reached at Via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or Tele +211925729845.