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Gilo and Nyikango

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The Eastern Axis of The Great Luo Migration was formed almost exclusively of the Luo-Speaking Anywaa people. They are the descendants of 'Nyie' Gilo and his followers. In their mythology, however, they prefer to remember the divinely Ochwudho, the estranged father of Gilo (and Nyikango, Dimo and Gau!) who varnished in the river where from he was initially captured by the 'royal women'.

The Anywaa speak 'dho-Anywaa' which is similar and mutually intelligible to 'dhok-Chollo' of the Shilluk on the Nile and Lake No, and 'dho-Luo' of the Jur-Luo in the Western Bahr el Ghazal . These and others are dialects of the main Luo language which clearly sets historical footprint throughout Africa of the Great Migration of the Luo-Speaking Peoples.

Gilo, the brother of 'Reth' Nyikango the Divine King of the Shilluk people, finally disengaged himself and his followers from the powerful king, most probably at Kodok, and determined to leave Reth Nyikango who was building an army to march downstream (northwards) to recapture the 'Ancestral Land' that had been lost to enemies sometime back in history. Gilo, however, set and marched southwards. He then turned sharply East to the fertile valleys of the Sobat River . The main body of migration continued upstream eastwards (200-300km East of the White Nile ). This expansion was, however, checked by the difficult terrain of plateau, bare hills and mountains, forests and first rivers. They, therefore, settled in the open valleys of the tributaries Baro, Pibor, and Akobo at the base of the Gambella escarpment (Gambella is the name of one of their famous warrior leaders, a 'Nyie' who lived to 110 years). These Luo-Speaking peoples are known today as the Anywaa (Anuak) and number about 100,000 only. They are mainly found in their home towns of Akobo, Pibor and Pochala in the Jonglei Region of South Sudan and Gambella Region of Western Ethiopia .

Here in the valleys of the Sobat, Pibor, Akobo and Gilo, the Anywaa were predominantly subsistence farmers growing grains, maize, simsim, beans, and tobacco. They kept cattle, goats and fowl as well as fished and hunted. They became prosperous and multiplied fast despite the difficult terrain and persistent tragedy of flooding and draughts and famine. However, their population dwindled because they were subjected to frequent expansionist raids of the numerically superior warriors of their neighbours including the Nuer. These invasions over time pushed the Anywaa further east and set off yet another migration of a large number to the South. Finding again a very difficult terrain of waterless semi-desert and occupied by yet another group of the Lango peoples (Murle, Didinga, Toposa, Turkana) they turned southwest towards Imotong and Agoro mountains. This group formed and completed the Eastern Axis of the Great Migration of the Luo-Speaking Peoples into what is today known as Northern Uganda .

The Anywaa who remained behind in the valleys of Sobat and tributaries had to fight great wars of survival against raiders, British colonisation and distasteful imperial power of Ethiopia . The worst recorded invasion occurred in recent times in 1880 (the whole Sudan was at war; the rise of the Mahdist Movement against the British etc.) in which many Anywaa villages, including the populous village complex of Ukadi were destroyed. The Nuer appeared to have driven their assault all the way to Ubaa and the sacred rock-pools of Abula (Agula) in the southeast extremity of Anywaaland. The Anywaa were threatened with extinction by death and forcible assimilation.

Eventually (in modern times) the Anywaa acquired firearms and a steady supply of ammunitions and rifles which became increasingly available in Ethiopia from the Ethiopian traders in exchange for ivory and slaves. The Anywaa became proficient in the use of the guns and rifles and were soon far better armed than their marauding neighbours, who continued to rely on their numerical strength, spear and shield and surprise attacks.

The acquisition of firearms empowered the Anywaa to unite and extend their authority and effective control over neighbouring villages. The otherwise small and weak and disparate clans and family groups were amalgamated into a larger political organization and under one symbol of the Royal Emblems of the Anywaa Nation, the 'Ocwak'. The Anywaa Nation became one political institution which provided the discipline necessary to make the Anywaa a formidable fighting force. They became the masters of the region in fighting as well as in trade. (They traded guns for ivory and slaves and other items as ostrich plum, beads(demuy), copper bracelets (ogul, mola) through the lucrative route from Gambella Ethiopia to 'Mbale'. It is through here that some Acoli also acquired their thousands of breech-loaded guns. (The Padibe alone, who's renowned Rwot Ogwok travelled this route up to Mombasa 1903, had over 1,000 guns by 1912. (Luo could have been used as the lingua franca in these transactions!).

In 1902, the British Colonial Administration in Sudan, in the British quest to conquer and own the 'Valley of the Nile' from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Albert, signed the Anglo-Ethiopian (Abyssinia) Treaty that drew an artificial border line right through the centre of Anywaaland dividing it into the Sudan Anywaa and Ethiopian Anywaa. This increased the woes and tribulations of the Anywaa. They were now divided and therefore weaker. Still, in 1911, the Anywaa combined fighters launched concerted revenge attacks against the Lau and the Jikany Nuer and devastated them. By the end of the year, the Nyie (king) Akwei-wa-Acam had led his Anywaa army all the way to the Bahr al-Zaraf some 200km to the west and defeated the Nuer and whoever was on the way and returned to Akobo with hundreds of captives and thousands of cattle.

This mammoth invasion worried the British Colonial authority of Sudan and it sought to curtail the Ethiopian arms traffic as it could not tolerate another power or armed groups in that region between Juba and Lake 'Rudolf'. (In retrospect, we can now say it is the reason why an ADC Postlethwaite (Bwana Gweno) was hurriedly promoted from Kumi (1912) and rushed to open a new colonial District of 'Kitgum' with 120 Nubian mercenaries Askaris. From there he launched an attack on a suspected 'Ethiopian' gun running post on Lakwar hills and Mt.Orom. It could also be the reason why Rwot Ogwok of Padibe was visited at his palace with a strong force only to be greeted with a smart parade of men and women marching to a fine British bugle bit. But still he could not be trusted as he was suspected of dealing in guns, slaves and ivory with the Kuturia earlier and now with the Anywaa Ethiopians). Soon after British intelligence officers passed through the area, and a Uganda-Sudan Boundary Commission, consisting of a large contingent of three companies of the 12 Twelfth Sudanese, Camel Corps and KAR showing force and aggression as they drew another arbitrary boundary line which was totally insensitive to what clans, families and even households lived in this region, between Sudan and Uganda from Nimule to Agoro to Zulia mts.) The boundary divided the Madi into Madi Uganda and Madi Sudan , and Acoli Uganda and Acoli Sudan . The Commission was under instruction to ensure that the Nile port of Nimule was carved off and given to Sudan so that Egypt could develop it quickly as a British controlled Cairo-Nimule railway head on the Nile . As a result a good 40km of what was Attiak and Palabek is in the Sudan .

The Ethiopian authority in Addis Abeba was also constantly worried about the Anywaa. After the powerful Nyie Akwei-wa-Acam died 1920, it took the British an armed company backed with aeroplanes 1921 to subdue the Anywaa. The British were let to penetrate the remote region of Adonga and were deeply impressed by the sheer scale and efficiency of the social organisation and political governance of the Anywaa and the respect they paid to the young leader Nyie Sham Akwei who had just taken over from his late father king. Still the British captured the young king and transferred him to the Sudan side. The British were not about ready to let the head of the whole Anywaa kingdom to remain in Ethiopian territory. They then instigated and fomented trouble for the young king to undermine his authority and divide his people in the typical British colonial 'divide and rule' fashion, a conspiracy that was hatched by a Evan Evans-Pritchard a British anthropologist embedded in the area. The other royal clan heads now begun to demand that the Ocwak (Obwol-Ker and royal regalia) be rotated among them in turn. Still, in 1931 the Anywaa fought the Gaajak Nuer to the North and then raided the Burun and Koma. In 1932 the Sudanese Anywaa and Ethiopian Anywaa combined and viciously attacked and overran the troublesome cattle rustlers Murle (Lango) to the East and South of them and sold off the captured women into slavery and cattle to the Ethiopians for rifles and manufactured goods.

Hardly four years later, the European World War had begun. In May 1936, the Italians invaded and occupied Ethiopia . Emperor Haile Selassie fled. By December, the Italians had occupied Gambella, driving out the British. The British took four years to build a counter attack. On 10 June 1940 Britain declared war on Italy . The sell-out Nyie Agwa Akwon was holding the 'Ocwak' and through him the ubiquitous Evans-Pritchard anthropologist-turned-soldier recruited and trained some 1,000 Anywaa young men in to his personal idiosyncratic 'Upper Nile Scouts' and marched them to fight the Italians for the British. "Evans-Pritchard found shooting the Italians in the Anuak marshes (and seeing the Anywaa die) more exhilarating if not more intellectually stimulating, than sorting out the royal claims of the Anuak". Evans-Pritchard's Anywaa Scouts were sent ahead to allegedly harass and disrupt the Italian Army in anticipation for a robust reinforcement by December.

By the time the British assembled its forces on the Nile port of Malakal for December war, consisting of the 2,250 Belgian troops from Congo, the South African Cape Corps with over 600 motor vehicles, the Sudan Defence Forces and troops of the KAR, the true story was that these fine and brave young Anywaa were dead. They were marched to their deaths; fed as gun-fodder to the Italian machine guns, artillery and air bombs. The Italians were disgusted with the human slaughter and too tired to shoot at the remaining few. The Italians were eventually outnumbered, out manoeuvred and besieged and surrendered to the British on 03 March 1941. The blood shed was that of the Anywaa lost in a war that was not theirs to fight. War on this front ended well before the real world conflagration of the World War 2. The few surviving Anywaa went home and life went on as before in the kraals and cultivations. World History forgot all about the massacre and without any reparation or even a mere apology to the Anywaa. For Evans-Pritchard, he was knighted for a distinguished service to his Empire.

In as early as 1945 the Ethiopian Amhara and Gala officials and police were back in Gambella, and the discrimination and oppression of the Anywaa got worst. The Anywaa continued to live in two countries in confused demands across the artificial border, of Sudan and Ethiopia . It was not until 1956, at the Sudan Independence, that the British formerly returned Gambella to Ethiopia . The issue of the Ilemi Akwon Triangle, now suspected to be sitting on rich petroleum deposits, is yet to be resolved between Sudan , Ethiopia and Kenya .

The Anywaa of Ethiopia enjoyed relative peace and rapid progress during President Mengistu's military dictatorship because in a desperate view to unite Ethiopia he did not only listen to the minority nationalities but he gave them equal rights with the large and domineering and greedy Ahmara, Gala and Oromo. One was able to see schools, health facilities and other social amenities springing up everywhere in Gambella and the Anywaa could be seen in government offices in Addis Abeba or walking the streets and the university campus and in the army and police. President Zenawi, however thinned the nationalities out and began the oppression of the minorities as during Imperial Ethiopia. Zenawi has also contrived a 'national' project to resettle the Gala in the south. The Anywaa and other minority nationalities are worried that the project is a conspiracy designed to eliminate them and steal their god-given land. Zenawi, who from his vantage position of 'beacon of hope' in the eyes of the Western States sunk to nothing and his military regime, is shaky and he has therefore grown increasingly intolerant of any opposition. The Anywaa want to fight back with the experience they gained during fighting the government of Khartoum for the independence of Southern Sudan as part of the SPLA. Zenawi has so far proved to be ruthless and extremely murderous.

The Anywaa Migration to the South.

The Jo-Pari and the Pajok. In about the seventeenth century, a splinter group of the Anywaa migrated southwest and settled on the twin-top Lipul Hills (Jabel Lafon) (5.N' 32. 30'E.) and is approx. 90km north of Mt. Imatong. Lipul Hills sit on a large low plateau surrounded by an occasional swamp. Lipul has been an important junction through which many groups of people criss-crossed for many centuries. The people here call themselves Jo- Pari and speak 'dhi-Pari' which is still wholly intelligible to the Anywaa.

The Jo-Pari had settled here in several villages or clans and under different rwadhi (rwodi). There were clan groups such as Wiiatuo, Bura, Puchwa, Pugeri, Kor, Angulumere. They were subsequently joined on Lipul by some non-Luo -Speaking peoples like the Lopit, Lokoya, Bor Dinka, Baari and Lotuko. These were assimilated in a mix culture. However, they had functional 'rwath' for all the people. For example, the 'rwath' of Pugeri was responsible for all spiritual celebrations and also is the priest of Jwok-Lipul. Rwath Puchwa was also 'rwadi winyo' (bird-chief) responsible for keeping the 'lira birds' away from destroying the grain crops. The rwath of Wiiatuo, the largest community, is considered and revered as the paramount rwath of the whole Pari and is also the 'rwadi koth' the rain maker to ensure that there is sufficient rain for the whole Pari. All communities co-existed peacefully and the security is guaranteed by the youth group, the 'mojimaji'. All clans joined in the celebration of the 'New Season' 'nyilam'and the start of the hunting season by sacrifices to the jwok-Lipul in the caves and apex of Lipul hills.

The Jo-Pari claim that many of their people migrated further south. It can be clearly seen that the kaka like Bura, PaCua and PaKor (in Labongo) existed here as rwotships well before they moved to the southern face of Agoro Mts and Aringa River region.

It can also be discerned that the Acoli names like Lamot/Amot (in Padibe), Jule (in Pajule), PaObong (in Madi-Opei) originated here with the Anywaa/Pari, where they still give their children names Lamot/Omot, Amot to first born, Ojul/Jule/Ajul to second born and Obang/Abang to the third born, Agwa to a boy born after the father's death, Ochalla/Achalla to a child born out of 'lako'. In the Padibe rwotship list there was a Lamot/Amot the eponym of Pamot Kal and a famous Rwot Gongelei after whom the South Sudan Eastern Region has been named as 'Jongelei'.

Jo-Pari also witnessed many Anywaa groups passed Pari, migrating to the south. Typically, a group calling itself PaJok came and passed through Lipul and penetrated further to the southwest of Imatong. This must be the Pajok rwotship that has now been split by the artificial border of Uganda/Sudan into Acoli Pajok in Sudan and the Lukung in Uganda .

In Pari tradition narrative, many more Anywaa groups again drifted along Chol, Gilo and Kidepo River valleys directly southward passed Mt. Dongotona and Nangeya ranges to the west and settled the low laying slopes of the Labwor Hills and Otuke areas. The Anywaa believe that their kinsman who migrated to the south long time ago established the Luo-Speakings groups including the Jo-Luo of the eastern shores of Lake Victoria .

This immediately raises the spectre of the controversial issue as to whether some of the people hitherto identified as Karimojong 'Lango-Dyang' or Jie were in fact Luo-Speaking groups of Anywaa stock like the Acholi Labwor etc. Surely, the case of Koc is demonstrative here. Koc pa Latogo came all the way from Alur, crossed the Nile and Acaa Rivers and joined up with the Guna and Punok on Agago River . Then the two brothers Tuda (Patuda) and Okumu (Pokumu) who came from the East also joined up into an enlarged and stronger Koc. Koro and the Aywee of Puranga is also a case in point. There must have been some ethno-linguistic affinity among them to start with to integrate easily. Were they wrongly identified as non-Luo-Speaking?

The Palaro in Acoliland. Palaro is of great interest in this study. Jo-Palaro claim that they came from the North beyond the Imatong Mountains . They first settled on a hill overlooking the Acaa River to the West. It is probable that they came from the Pari on Lipul, as we shall soon see some other similarities which we can not afford to ignore in the study of history and anthropology. They apparently founded their own 'Lapul' and carried out some very identical ways of administration and spiritual celebrations as found with the Pari.. The Palaro seem not to have come here as and under a single powerful rwot. As at 'Lapul' they were in small clans, families and even individuals but working in unison and together and respected functional heads of services. Some of their recorded leaders were Auya, Laro, Larubi, Uma, Twol, Gilo. Laro seems to have been their outstanding leader and his name became the eponym of the group, thus 'Pa-Laro'. The 'Gilo' must be the name in memory of the founder of the Anywaa. The nature of Palaro structure is clearly demonstrated here. All the 15 or so sub-clans bare the names of the individual leaders including the 'PanyaGilo, and because they are not blood relations they inter-marry. To keep moral codes, it was the practice to blame and fine the woman for allowing fornication or adultery to occur. What, therefore, unites the Palaro is the dependent security, annual all-in-one event of sacrificing to jwok-Lapul, celebrating the new season 'nyilam' with sumptuous food and plenty of dancing, especially the Orak, and the beginning of the hunting season. The pattern follows almost exactly as celebrations of the Jo-Pari. As the facts unfold, there is strong probability, therefore, that the Palaro were Luo-Speaking and originated from Pari who in turn were from the main body Anywaa in the Eastern Axis of the Luo Migration. Some of the rwodi/kaka Acoli (of Anywaa extractions) who approached Acoliland from the Eastern Axis would read as follows.

Palaro, Lukung, Padibe Kal Pamot (Ogul yee! Mola yee!), Bobi, Koro, Cua-Bura,
Lukwor, Parwec and Aywee (in Puranga), Bolo, Bwobo, Madi Opei (Pobango Kal),
Pajule, Koc Patuda and Pokumu.
Akena p'Ojok 2008 researched for IAHR.

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The Eastern Axis of The Great Migration of the Luo-Speaking Peoples. The Anywaa People.

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The Eastern Axis of The Great Luo Migration was formed almost exclusively of the Luo -Speaking Anywaa people. They are the descendants of 'Nyie' Gilo and his followers. In their mythology, however, they prefer to remember the divinely Ochwudho , the estranged father of Gilo (and Nyikango, Dimo and Gau!)

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NYIKANGO: THE FATHER OF THE LUO (1545-1575)

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NYIKANGO: THE FATHER OF THE LUO (1545-1575)

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Luos 1740-1760 (Shilluk-centric) Ororo

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By: Jwothab Othow

The Nyikang political organization was developed from a political idea that originated from ancient Luo people of the Sudan . This happened before the massive movement of the Luo southward along the river Nile to the Great lakes region of Africa .

The Luo people who had migrated into different part of East Africa still speak much about Nyikango's influences and his role as the founder of the Luo people and the original hero of their culture. The Chollo are a major Nilotic ethnic group of Southern Sudan, living on both banks of the River Nile in the present Upper Nile State .

Chollo is known by the name Shilluk in the Sudan , but they preferred to be called Chollo. Nyikango played a central role in the foundation of the early movement of Luo. He is considered a spiritual father and founder of Chollo identity and culture. The Reth is the center of the whole organization and symbolizes the unity among Chollo people. The Reth is divine, and he is the supernatural leader. He carries special sacrifices for rain, for victories in war times, and for good harvests. The Chollo were known as the organized tribe among the Nilotics and their influences had tremendous impact on the history of Sudan . Today, still many Luos within and out of Sudan speak of Nyikango as their founding father who led them during the great era of their struggles.

According to Bethwell Ogot, Luo in Uganda , Kenya , and Tanzania migrated from South Sudan . This happened roughly 400 years ago from South Sudan , from 1730 to 1760 A.D. The Luo kingdom stretches from the south of Sudan to Northern Uganda, to Eastern Congo, to Western Kenya, and to the upper tip of Tanzania . The Chollo constituted the most important section of the Lou. The Nyikang decided to settle near Malakal after defeating the "Funj", the previous inhabitants of the region between Tonga and Muomo. By the second half of the century what came to be known as the Shilluk "nation" emerged. The early Lou originally occupied the area that now lies to the east of the Bahr El-Ghazal River .

It is not yet known why they dispersed from that area. This provides another challenging opportunity to young Chollo future researchers. The Luo migrated to nearly all the neighboring African countries bordering the Sudan . This resulted in the fragmentation of this large group into smaller but separate tribal groups composed of many clans, and, in fact, the further they moved away from their next of kin, the slightly different accent they spoke and slightly different cultures and traditions they practiced. On the other hand, Nyikango and his men moved northward along the Nile towards Kush Kingdom and Rip. Their objective was to re-conquer and settle the land their ancestors had lost to the Arabs and Europeans. In the past, the Luo had produced some of Africa's great leaders, though no mention of it is made in the modern history of the Sudan . One of the great Lou leaders is Reth Nyikango of the Chollo people at Pachodo whose kingdom was ravaged by Turko-Egyptian expansion, the slave trade, and the Mahdist regime.

However, despite foreign interferences, the Chollo Kingdom has survived; the current Reth is Kwongo Dak Padiet. Also, the odds could not stop Nyikango from pursuing his goal of establishing a nation for his people. Nyikango wanted to create a black nation that would maintain the African identity without aliens' interference. The social structure of the Chollo consists of two main social groups: Kwar Reth and Chollo. The Kwar Reth is the direct descendants of Nyikango and thus, belongs to the royal family. Nyikango conferred upon the first rides certain privileges that include the right to become members of the royal clan. The first group of riders was the Ororo. They were made up of royal members, and they performed important duties for the Reth.

The second group was the Bang Reth. They were the servants of the Reth. Some of these people were slaves, others were refugees, and still some were faithful people to the throne. Their descendants formed an important community at the Reth's capital, Pachodo. Nyikang had also established other historical sites such as Nyilwal, Didigo, Akurwa, Wau Chollo, and Papwojo. The third group was the common Luo clans. Each clan consisted of the descendants of the founder who could trace their descent through males, and was usually named after the founder. The common Luo clans through their service to the Reth are awarded with the symbol of faithfulness and loyalty and chieftainship positions. The Chollo represents the rest of the Chollo public who are not original descendants of Nyikang. The political organization of Chollo Kingdom 's capital Pachodo was built by Reth Tugo in 1690. Reth Tugo built the kingdom capital Pachodo in 1690 and ruled it up to the time of his death in 1710.

Prior to the founding of Pachodo kingdom in1690, Pachodo was not known so both Nyikango and many of his successors ruled from their own villages or residences. For example, Nyikango had chosen Nyilwal as his headquarters. According to Bethwell, Nyikango was given a title, known as "Reth" that can be translated to mean king. The kingship was then passed down through Nyikango descendants to the present day. Nyikango and his followers disagreed in a place called Wic Pac in southern Equartoria. The beginning of separation between Nyikango and Dimo started when Nyikango threw a spear at an elephant that belonged to his brother Dimo. The wounded beast carried it away. Nyikango tried to give a substitute spear to his brother Dimo who refused to accept the substitute spear. Nyikango was force to embark on a long dangerous journey to find Dimo's spear. Finally, Nyikango found the Dimo's spear and since that time Nyikango carried vengeance toward Dimo. According to the Chollo's oral history, one of Dimo's sons swallowed the Nyikango bead. This meant they had to cut Dimo's son stomach to extract the original bead of Nyikango. That was the beginning of the conflict between the two brothers. When Dimo tried to substitute to Nyikango's bead, Nyikango refused the substitute bead and demanded his original bead, so, the child's stomach was cut open to get out Nyikango's bead which caused the separation between Nyikango and Dimo for ever.

The Chollo led by Nyikango moved northwards from WicPac. They raided the Fung who were forced to leave the area and settle at Sennar on the Blue Nile . The Lou brothers, Nyikango (Chollo), Dimo (Jur Chol), and Gilo (Anuak), left WicPac about the same time due to family quarrels. Dimo went up Bahr El Ghazal River while Nyikango and Gilo went northwards following the White Nile . Nyikango took the western bank while Gilo took the eastern. This caused Nyikang and his entourage to go northward wandering and conquering. Nyikango and his followers started their wandering from their original home as a result of a quarrel between Nyikango and his half brother, sometime said to be his brother, Duwat. They quarreled about who should succeed their father, Okwa, as leader and king.

Since Duwat was elected, Nyikango left with his groups to the present place that is known as the Chollo kingdom. According to Darlly Forde that, "Nyikango is thought to have entered the present Chollo kingdom in the South west near Tonga , and to have moved along the west bank of the Nile river until he managed to established the another place of his kingdom which is presently Muomo." Nyikango then reached the present land of Chollo ; he was strong enough to establish the dynasty and the Chollo nation.

Nyikango was assisted by his son Dak. They managed to convert and assimilate into Chollo culture different tribes who were living in that land. There is a strong belief that Nyikango did not die, but simply disappeared. The disappearance of Nyikango is something of a mystery among Chollo. Nyikango is believed to have supernatural power over the land. In each Chollo king, the spirit of Nyikango is supposed to be imminent. Nyikango is the supreme judge, a political and spiritual leader of Chollo.

At the time of war, he is also the commander in chief. Chollo's people respect and strongly believe that King (Reth) is Nyajwok, which means the child of the God. As a consequence, when they greet him they sit down on the ground with their legs folded. They open their palms faced down saying wuo wuo, which means your lordship, lordship. There are various accounts of the birth place of Nyikango. In one, he is the son of Okwa, who is the son of Omara, who came down from heaven. Chollo called non-Nilotic foreigners as Obwonyo, and the Nuba as dhongo who occupy special positions in the Nyikango political kingdom. Nyikango himself established a relationship with the Nuba through the marriage of his daughter. The more foreigners are assimilated to Chollo tradition, the more they get involved in the leadership of Nyikango.

The order of Chollo society is best approached by a consideration of the myths of migration under Nyikango. Some of the details of these myths cannot be fully understood without a preliminary knowledge of the main natural divisions of the Chollo world.

In the course of their wandering, Nyikango and his followers came to a country occupied by Dimo, where they lived for a while, Nyikango moved to the present Chollo kingdom.

Dak quarreled with Dimo, whose people wanted to kill him. Nyikango made an effigy of Dak, which was speared in Dak's place by the followers of Dimo. Effigies of Nyikango, Dak and another son of Nyikango called Caal were made. In one story Dak is mischievous and a quarrelsome figure, who grew to a tremendous size. He is also very intelligent, and there are accounts of how he and Nyikango, in contest with Dimo were able to blind Dimo's people and his cattle, thus forcing Dimo to give up the fight, which he had hidden, and to release the rain which he had stopped.

The significance of this power of Nyikango and Dak was to cause Dimo's people to become blind. The same power struggle remained among the Chollo as a curse. This can be seen in the Chollo society today how the Chollo continue to stumble with power struggles. The Nyikango's third son, Caal, is also represented in effigy in the ceremonies for the installation of the King. He plays a less important part than Dak or Nyikang in the ceremonies. We are told that Caal was a coward, and therefore, Nyikango thought it safe for him to remain with him and Dak, while he sent away another of his sons, Buro, because he was as headstrong as Dak. It is said that Caal succeeded his father as King, but did not reign for long and disappeared; he was to be succeeded by his brother who should understand the more abstract notion of leadership. The Nyikango was known for his control of the sun and the river which, along with the rain mentioned in the first prayer, are the features of the Chollo world upon which their prosperity ultimately depends and which may help or ruin them. The Chollo King is chosen ultimately by God, as he is accepted and possessed proximately by Nyikango. The chosen prince is then challenged to fight at night and if he acquits himself well, he is told that he is a brave man, and that God has decreed that he shall be King of the Chollo. At one point, the King-elect enters the village of Debalo on his way to the capital, Fashoda, the chief of Debalo asked him, "What do you want here? And the King-elect replied, I am the man sent by God to rule the land of the Chollo." The order of the Chollo kingdom depends upon Nyikango and the king, and Nyikango and the King derived their position from God. The Chollo God is the final explanation both for what is good and what is evil, from the human point of view, but he is not himself god or evil.

Nyikango is not the teacher or founder of an ethical system, and the attributes which he shares with God refer, not to judgments of ethical value, but to the nature of reality and its interpretation. The Chollo kings in their traditional reputation are not mainly founded upon whether they were just or virtuous, but upon whether the Chollo prospered under them, whether they were effective in war, whether they were brave and whether they were clever. The Bel-Collo war finished all Collo adult male princes. This led to the accession of a princess, Queen Abudhok, to the throne. The Chollo and the (Bel) Anyuaks fought ferocious wars at the present cite of Malakal Town . By then the capital of the Chollo kingdom was at Ditang, the village with dome trees opposite Malakal Airport . Odak was the Chollo king by then.

Nyikango and Dak were the most important Chollo kings and may be regarded as models of what the ideal Chollo king should be. Some accounts of their lives have already been given, but it has perhaps not been made clear that the stories recorded of them emphasized their intrigues, deceptions and intelligence which seems for the Chollo to be a sign of the particular gifts of God. The story of the attempt by Dimo to kill Dak, when Nyikango made the effigy which was speared in Dak's stead, it is said that Dimo said Nyikango was a fool, but Dak was full of talk, which means "Dak was a man of ideas". In their contests with Dimo, Nyikango and Dak showed themselves both more powerful and clever, and in this cleverness they were alike.

Dak who effectively succeeded his father is second in importance only to Nyikango himself. Not only is Dak the judge, but also the source of both good and evil. He can be regarded as being indifferent, friendly or hostile, depending on the judgment of the individual in any particular situation. During the contest between Dak and Dimo, Dak struck his opponents blind until they accepted Dak's superiority, and then Dak was able to restore their sight. Nyikango and his brother, Duwat separated. Duwat asked him where he was going, and told him to look behind him. When Nyikango looked back, he saw a stick for planting sorghum, which Duwat had thrown to him.

Duwat told him that it was a thing with which to dig the ground of his village. Nyikango came to the country of Turo, the country of his son, Dak, who used to sit on the ashes of the village and play the tom, a stringed instrument. Dak represented the way in which the Chollo knew the order of their world, as well as being themselves the examples of knowledge and intelligence. It is appropriate that the power of blind people should be attributed to them in myth". Although Nyikango was speaking of a new, administrative situation, we may see here the idea of the King as a source of social order, which fulfilled his function merely by existing. The king's office keeps the Chollo in palpable relation with an ideal order, which they hold to be the true order of their world. According to Chollo the oral history that is in the original migration was from their first homeland. In the land of Duwat, the Chollo were with their leaders Nyikango and with them were the Dinka led by Dengdit, the Anyuak were led by Gilo and the Luo led by Odimo. It says in Chollo oral history that there was a king, called Okwa, and that he was the father of Duwa, Nyikango and other sons.

The emerging of Nyikango was the beginning of the Chollo royal house and the Chollo nation. As the Chollo saw it, the other Nilotics were separate from them in the course of a common history. There is a Chollo proverb which says that the Chollo only believe what they see. Until today many Chollos believe that Nyikango did not die but disappeared in a whirlwind during a festival. There will be a need to be conducted into more study about the mystery of how Nyikango disappeared. The survival of the Chollo people and the well being of Chollo will be based on their loyalty for their values, beliefs, and its history. The Chollo always will stand up against the forces who seek destruction of the Chollo kingdom that has survived for many centuries.

I personally, call a upon the young Chollo intellectuals and academics to do more study and conduct in-depth research about the history of the founding father, Nyikango, who leads the Luo people. Many Luos today, still speaking of Nyikango as their founder, and father of the Luo people and the hero of their culture. I believe strongly that Chollo history means the identity of the Chollo people. The chollo people must and should preserve their history for the next generations to come. It is important for us to keep our history and know our history because if one does not have an anchor of history, then he or she is nobody.

Works cited:

Forde, Darll, James Wendy. African Worlds studies in the Cosmological Idea and social values of African peoples, (1955).

Ogot, Bethwell, J.A. Kieran. Zamani A Survey of East African History, (1968).

Lienhar, Godfrey. The Shilluk of the Upper Nile, (1925).

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الحركة' 'الشعبية لتحرير السودان

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'الحركة الشعبية التغيير الديمقراطي'

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'مؤتمر جوبا'

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Historical Perspective of Nyikango Early Political Movement

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By: Jwothab Othow The Nyikang political organization was developed from a political idea that originated from ancient Luo people of the Sudan . This happened before the massive movement of the Luo southward along the river Nile to the Great lakes region of Africa .

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Writer, Artist, Photographer, Film Maker Studying Fine Art and Film

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Here Hans-Egile Hauge compares Greek Mythology to Luo Folklore

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Lu o religion[along lake Nyanza (Victoria) in Kenya], Part II, Chapter 2

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Hans-Egile Hauge (1974)

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Luo religion [along lake Nyanza (Victoria) in Kenya], Part 3

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Lu o religion [along lake Nyanza (Victoria) in Kenya], Part III

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Hans-Egil Hauge (1974)

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Luo religion [along lake Nyanza (Victoria) in Kenya], 2

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Lu o religion [along lake Nyanza (Victoria) in Kenya], Part 2, Chapter 3

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AN HISTORIC ANALYSIS OF THE LUO IDEA OF GOD c 1500-1900

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AN HISTORIC ANALYSIS OF THE LUO IDEA OF GOD c 1500-1900

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Gilbert Edwin Meshack Ogutu (1975)

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LUO ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION:TOWARDS A POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION OFTHE ANCIENT ITIYO-PI-ANU PEOPLES

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LUO ORIGIN OF CIVILISATION:TOWARDS A POSITIVE IDENTIFICATION OFTHE ANCIENT ITIYO-PI-ANU PEOPLES

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Sir David Ochieng’ the Great’ (200