In South Sudan, individuals declare rebellion against the Kiir government for personal reasons, the majority of which are employment-related. Military officials or politicians declare rebellion or crawl over to the next political party after losing a position.
However, one man stands out. He is Dr. Ayool Gup Ayool,
whom the chairman of the South Sudan People’s Movement (SSPM/A), Gen. Stephen
Buay, on May 22 integrated into the party’s military wing as brigadier general.
He is now the commander of the SSPM/A Medical Corps.
Until 2023, Dr. Ayool was a regular official in the SSPDF
medical corps. He was happy. Patriotic. And a proud lieutenant colonel.
However, a senior officer of the National Security Service brutally stripped
him of all those attributes, leaving him for dead.
When the Sudanese civil war erupted in April of that
year, Dr. Ayool and his family were in Khartoum. Like every good family man, he
wasted no time. The medical doctor evacuated his wife and four children and
three nephews.
Since the air services had been disabled, the Ayools
traveled in a hired car from Khartoum to Melut County in Upper Nile State—a
tortuous journey which lasted 17 hours.
As he boarded a plane to Juba on April 22, a wave of
humanity struck him. There were so many Sudanese refugees lying all over the
Paloch airstrip.
They were mainly women, children, and the elderly, some
of whom were severely ill after spending weeks on the road fleeing the
conflict.
“I could not stop thinking about the vulnerable people
lying outside the airport fence,” said Dr. Ayool in a WhatsApp interview with TRC. “I was so overwhelmed. It wasn't until someone nudged me that I
heard the aviation officer calling for us to board the plane.”
Some of the refugees, he later learned, had been
hospitalized at various health facilities in Sudan when the conflict erupted.
So, their health situation deteriorated during the evacuation to the border
area.
By then, there had been no emergency response from either the South Sudanese government or humanitarian organizations.
Dr. Ayool Gup Ayool was brutalized and left for dead near the Paloch airstrip on May 1, 2023. | Credit | Courtesy
“I decided to help by volunteering and opening a small clinic where I could deliver free medical services,” Dr. Ayool recalled.
He managed to help the Sudanese refugees with support
from the Melut County government and the DAR Petroleum Operating Company, a
consortium of oil exploration and production companies operating in South
Sudan.
The county authorities provided him with a location and
furniture, while the oil company offered medicines and medical equipment.
“Two local nurses volunteered. Within a couple of days,
our makeshift clinic made a huge difference on the ground,” he said.
Ayool's humanitarian work drew the attention of prominent
South Sudanese on social media, bringing out the philanthropy in them.
The enemy
However, the good doctor’s problems started when
well-known South Sudanese business tycoons and well-off politicians intervened
by evacuating returnees from Melut.
Most of them, notably Atong Amos, Kur Ajiing, Bibi, Ali,
Presidential Advisor on Security Affairs Tut Gatluak, and First Lady Mary Ayen,
chartered planes to airlift the returnees to Juba.
Though the flights were meant for South Sudanese fleeing
the conflict in Sudan, the benefactors ensured that the critically ill Sudanese
refugees were accorded lifts.
He continued, "I had to recommend the names of the
sick who needed airlifting to Juba for better medical attention."
However, security officers would turn away the sick from
the runway, demanding a payment of $300 per person.
He learned that NSS officers would prepare their own
lists, comprised of healthy Sudanese refugees, whom they would force to pay
$300 each.
"Those people would take the sick people’s seats, and that's why the NSS turned them away." When I questioned their actions, they labeled me an ‘enemy’,” said Dr. Ayool.
Dr. Ayool Gup Ayool gets treated at a DAR oil company health facility. | Credit | Courtesy
On May 1, 2023, after he made a complaint to the
authorities, the charity doctor got into trouble with the unnamed NSS officers,
who closed the clinic, beat him into a coma on the runway, and dumped him
outside the fence.
Oil workers later discovered Dr. Ayool and took him to
their health facility, where doctors resuscitated him.
His family assisted in his transfer to Juba, where a variety of medical examination results revealed the doctor had two fractured ribs, ear bleeding, and hearing loss. The Nairobi Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya, provided him with treatment a week later.
His experiences mirror those of his boss, Gen. Stephen Buay, who claims he faced false accusations of disobeying lawful orders and rebelling against the government in 2018.
Later, the army dismissed Gen. Buay, stripped him of his military ranks, and imprisoned him for a year.
New chapter
Dr. Ayool says he does not hold grudges against his
tormentors because he believes they do not know what they were doing.
“I understand the situation in South Sudan. People do
anything to survive today. Those colleagues just wanted something to eat off
the refugees. But my professional ethics and humanity in me got on their way,
hence causing me the troubles,” Dr. Ayool stated.
Several reports by the UN and human rights advocacy
groups suggest that South Sudan’s sector crawls with untrained soldiers, a
situation to blame for the widespread human rights violations.
Joining the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army, he
explained, offers him an opportunity to help professionalize the security
sector.
“I will ensure that I impart my training to my colleagues
in SSPA and the other members of the various organized forces,” he added.
Dr. Ayool is a medical doctor, specialized in public
health and tropical medicine. Shortly after earning his medical degree in 2010,
Dr. Ayool joined the then SPLA 2010 and underwent military training at Owiny Kibul
in Magwi County, where he received his commission as a captain.
Furthermore, the doctor served as the director of the
Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration (DDR) program in the Office of
the President from 2011 to 2012.
During the five-year conflict, Dr. Ayool served as the
commander of the SPLA Medical Corps in Jonglei. Also in 2017, he served as the director
of the Moroccan military field hospital in Juba during the visit of the Moroccan
King, King Mohammed VI, to South Sudan.
At present, the ‘revenant’ is pursuing a PhD at the
University of Hong Kong.
