The Vigilant

The Vigilant
EditorBona Malual Madut Ring
FoundedMarch 23, 1965 (1965-03-23)
Political alignmentSouthern Front
LanguageEnglish language
Ceased publicationMay 1969
HeadquartersKhartoum
OCLC number27375336

The Vigilant was an English-language newspaper published from Khartoum, Sudan.[1][2][3] The first issue was published on March 23, 1965.[2] It was an organ of the Southern Front.[1] It functioned as a relatively well-written informative newsletter, and became the mouthpiece of the Southern movement in general and the Southern Front in particular.[4] Effectively it was the sole press outlet for Southern opinions.[5]

Bona Malual Madut Ring (the general secretary of the Southern Front) was the editor of The Vigilant.[1][2][6] Darurs Beshar was the registered proprietor of the publication.[7]

Publication of The Vigilant was interrupted between July 1965 and January 1966.[2] The suspension was issued on July 15, 1965, following the publishing of articles about the recent massacres in Juba and Wau.[3][8][9] The Vigilant had held the government responsible for what it called 'barbaric and brutal killing'. The newspaper claimed that there had been 1,400 casualties and 76 killed (out of whom 49 victims would have been Southern Sudanese government employees, killed in Wau on Mau 8–9). Furthermore, the publication argued that the incidents was "not accident but part and parcel of a plan to depopulate the south".[9] Copies of the newspaper commenting on the massacres were seized. Darurs Beshar and Bona Malual were arrested and tried in court. They were eventually acquitted of any criminal acts.[7]

The publishing frequency of The Vigilant varied. For some periods it was issued daily.[10] Between November 1967 and April 1968 it appeared on a weekly basis.[2]

The Vigilant was closed down in May 1969.[11]

  1. ^ a b c Galander, Mahmoud M. (2001). Mass Media in Sudan: Towards History of Media-politics Interplay. IIUM Press. ISBN 978-983-9727-22-7.
  2. ^ a b c d e University of Durham. UKIRA - The vigilant
  3. ^ a b Akol, Lam. Southern Sudan: Colonialism, Resistance, and Autonomy. Trenton, NJ [u.a.]: Red Sea Press, 2007. p. 47
  4. ^ Collins, Robert O. A History of Modern Sudan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 88
  5. ^ Ruay, Deng D. Akol. The Politics of Two Sudans: The South and the North 1821-1969. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies (Nordiska Afrikainstitutet), 1994. p. 142
  6. ^ Publications, Publitec (2011-12-22). Who's Who in the Arab World 2007-2008. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-093004-7.
  7. ^ a b Deng, Francis Mading. War of Visions: Conflict of Identities in the Sudan. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1995. p. 536
  8. ^ Collins, Robert O. The Southern Sudan in Historical Perspective. New Brunswick: Transaction, 2006. p. 91
  9. ^ a b O'Ballance, Edgar. The Secret War in the Sudan, 1955 - 1972. [S.l.]: Shoe String Press, 1977. p. 81
  10. ^ Yoh, John Gay. Christianity in the Sudan: An Annotated Bibliography. Amman, Jordan: Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies, 1999. p. 147
  11. ^ Eprile, Cecil. War and Peace in the Sudan, 1955-1972. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974. p. 178