Traditional Leaders Profiles
Executive Chief Jacob Madhal Lang Juk of Akuar, Aweng
Payam, Twich County, Warrap State
‘Traditional authority
[needs to be] given due respect – it matters.’
Executive Chief Jacob Madhal Lang Juk had hoped to be a medical
doctor. Finishing his secondary school certificate in Port
Sudan, he had an offer to study medicine and a scholarship
to a university in Liberia. ‘I was hoping to pursue
my education,’ he says wistfully.
Now, nearly twenty five years on, Lang is a man more concerned
with history. He greets me with copies of detailed charts
and tables, meticulously chronicling the cattle raids, nomadic
attacks, and massive population displacement that began in
his area in 1983, the year he became chief of Akuar, Twich
West, in Warrap State.
The chieftaincy was not a position Lang had sought. But with
his father’s death in 1983, the responsibility passed
to him. ‘I was fairly young. I had no alternative…I
was pinned down…obliged to obey the will of my father.’
But it is clear that Chief Lang has accepted the gravity of
his situation over time. ‘Traditional authority [needs
to be] given due respect – it matters,’ he says.
He admires what he has seen in Botswana. ‘Traditional
leadership has been modernized perfectly,’ he says.
In our conversation it is clear that Lang’s early years
as chief have remained a central element of his work and thinking.
He presents me with another chart, this one listing the number
of starvation deaths in Twic in 1988. In his comments attached
to the document, Chief Lang writes, ‘in addition to
that mass destruction and atrocities made by Arab nomad militias,
still our own made wrong deeds (my emphasis). Lang’s
objectivity has been well recognised – he modestly admits
that he has been asked to mediate conflicts between other
tribes throughout Warrap state and Northern Bahr-el-Ghazal.
In 1992, he was appointed to resolve a fight between two Dinka
sections, the Apuk and the Kong-gur. In 1999, he mediated
between the Dinka and the Nuer. But in describing the value
of his own contributions, ‘I have been honoured to attend
peace mechanisms,’ is all he will say.
Chief Lang seems to be filled with a sense of urgency, and
perhaps foreboding. ‘Some colleagues are blaming me
for leaving [for this trip]. There is still crisis. This short
time of peace has to be utilized in understanding. I urge
my people to unite. Tribal fights are ruining the capacity
of the community. This fighting involves a lot, it brings
no unity, no development. [There are] differences that can
accumulate hatred between people, [but] more gatherings should
be proposed for people to change their ideas, reflect this
back. Point blank, I tell government, you must deal with tribal
fights or your rule will be failure.’
Still, Chief Lang has tempered optimism for the future. ‘We
gave them [the tour hosts] the little we have in our system,
and they gave us theirs. We have resources, which if developed
during this stage of peace, we will reach that level. We can
make a start. Our grassroots cannot fight each other, and
we are going back to spread this message.’
He has brought his eldest son, aged 24, to work alongside
him in the area’s affairs, and has a definite view on
the place of his children. ‘I didn’t send my children
to go anywhere, to go to learn. Separation will lead to destruction
of habits. Societies are not happy with the young people.
The future is not based on hopes [alone].’ Lang recognises,
though, that education has a key role to play in his community,
as it did in his own life. ‘That system of illiterate
chiefs, they are the people who brought up their people. When
there is stability, a little of my time will go to education,
and [that will mean that in future] their [the chiefs’]
understanding of the people will be easier. I am inspired
of a noble outcome.’
