Paul Malong Awan

Early life and education

Paul Malong was born in the early year of 1962 in Warawar, a village situated about forty-five kilometers north of Aweil town in the former Northern Bahr el Gazal State. He was born to Aluat (mother) and Awan Anei (father). His father was a paramount chief who governed his kinsmen in the Wun-Anei section of Abiem, situated in current Aweil East State. At eight years old, he lost his father when his father was killed by a member of his community. The family is survived by four children. Malong’s older siblings are deceased. In the order of their birth (excluding the deceased), the children of Anei’s first wife, who is also Malong’s mother, are Agot, Amou, him and Atak.

As a young man, Malong attended basic schools in his home village. After his father was killed in the late 1965s, Malong moved to Muglad, where he completed his primary school in 1969 in Sudan. He had his intermediate education at St. James in Khartoum, where he participated in the clandestine formation of the Anyanya II movement in the Bahr el Gazal area.

Career

Thereafter, when he left to join the SPLM/A, arriving in July 1984 in Ethiopia, Malong, was transferred to the Steel (Hadit) Battalion of Koryom Division. He went to Officers’ Cadet and graduated with the rank of captain in July the same year. After his graduation he was transferred to Northern Upper Nile around the Maban area. He returned to Itang, which was then the second largest refugee camp in Ethiopia. After a few months of lull, he was recalled and commissioned to the rank of major in October 1985. He was then posted to Southern Blue Nile in the Eagle Battalion, where he spent three years at the battle front.

In April 2014 he was appointed Chief of General Staff of the Sudan People's Liberation Army by the president of South Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit. He became army chief, replacing James Hoth Mai.

In December 2016, he was flown to Nairobi, Kenya for treatment in Nairobi Hospital after fell unconscious and collapsed in Juba.

In May 2017, President Kiir issued a presidential decree replacing him with General James Ajonga Mawut. He left Juba with his officials, but they did not reach their destination as they were accused of making rebellion. The officials in Yirol lured Gen. Paul Malong and his companions to get back to Juba because the government was in fear that they would sparked a rebellion. But Gen. Paul Malong expelled the accuse, saying to Eye Radio on phone from Yirol, "I want to live as a normal person, as you know that this month of May is all concerning cultivation; my tractors are already in the fields that is why you have seen me heading to Aweil". Malong also said, "Whatever has been said, there is no reality, because if I wanted to have a problem that problem should be in Juba," he told Radio Miraya FM, a United Nations radio station.

Alleged war crimes

During the Anti-Nuer pogroms in 2013, much of the killings were carried out by a group known as "Dot Ke Beny" (Rescue the President) or "Mathiang Anoor" (Brown caterpillar), a militia of Dinkas formed for the protection of president Kiir and Paul Malong Awan. The US pushed for an arms embargo and sanctions on Machar and army chief Paul Malong Awan through the Security Council, but it failed to receive enough votes to pass in December 2016.