The Late SPLM/SPLA Commander, Mrs. Ager Gum, was a revolutionary heroine of the South Sudanese liberation struggle, having fought in both the Anyanya One Movement (1962-1972) and the SPLM/SPLA (1983-2005) armed revolutionary struggle against successive Khartoum regimes.
By Mangar Marial Amerdid, Juba, South Sudan
Friday, March 15, 2019 (ChildBride Solidarity) — Today, we are going to discuss the extraordinary life of the revolutionary South Sudanese female named Ager Gum who was a military commander and songstress. Ager Gum was born in 1941 in Western Lakes State in Southern Sudan. As a young woman from the Dinka tribe of Agar lineage, like many Dinka women of her time; Ager Gum was married at an early age. The marriage ended in divorce, which led her to flee her village and travel to the town of Rumbek.
While in Rumbek, she became known as a songstress, composing songs of resistance towards bad marriages, commonly tied to the theme “men want sex rather than real relationships.” Nevertheless, she married again. In 1968, after her third failed marriage, she joined the Anya-Nya guerilla movement.
The Anya-Nya guerilla movement was established in 1963 by Southern Sudanese freedom fighters who sought to gain independence from Sudan. As a young female, Ager Gum realized the importance of serving her people and fighting for the independence of the Southern region.
When she joined the guerilla movement, she fought alongside the men and became the only woman to obtain the position of commanding officer in the high ranks of the Anya-Nya guerilla movement.
A towering figure of six feet and two inches, her tall stature equaled many of her Dinka male counterparts. Due to the lack of military vehicles, soldiers had to carry heavy weapons. Ager Gum was no different, she was often observed carrying boxed filled with ammunition on her head while on her back, she carried her gun.
In addition, among her responsibilities within the guerilla movement, Ager Gum headed the women’s intelligence unit, leading many women to undertake dangerous military operations. For example, the women intelligence groups infiltrated Southern towns such as Wau that were heavily guarded by soldiers of the Sudan government. The women would pretend to carry babies in baskets in order to smuggle food and weapons to Anya-Nya guerilla fighters.
Following the signing of the Addis Ababa agreement in 1972 between Southern Sudan and Sudan, this led to a decade of relative peace and stability in the region. During this period of self-determination of the Southern region, Ager Gum served as Chief Warden of Prisons in Rumbek.
However, when conflict erupted once again between Southern Sudan and Sudan in 1983, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army emerged to fight for the freedom of Southern Sudanese.
As a highly regarded military official, Ager Gum was then assigned the distinguished position of the commanding officer for both male and female SPA soldiers in Rumbek. Historically in the Dinka culture, marriage and cultural songs are composed by women while war songs are composed by men.
However, Ager Gum broke from tradition and began developing war songs which gained wide popularity across Southern Sudan. The lyrics to her songs galvanized SPLA soldiers and motivated her troops. Her songs were also played on the SPLA radio.
In 2000, Ager Gum passed away. Even though she did not witness the independence of Southern Sudan from Sudan, she continues to be remembered as an important military figure who contributed greatly to the liberation of South Sudan
The author, Hon. Mangar Marial Amerdid, is the National Coordinator of Northern Corridor Integration Projects (http://www.nciprojects.org/) for South Sudan, the Chairman of SOS Children Villages International for the Republic of South Sudan, and the Founder of the Leadership Institute of New Sudan (LIONS). He graduated with Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and a minor in Economics from University of Colorado, USA. You can reach him via his email: mangaramerdid@gmail.com
ChildBride Solidarity (CBS) is a women-led South Sudanese national NGO that is dedicated to ending child marriage, early marriage, forced marriage and gender-based violence by empowering girls and young women to fulfill their true potentials through full participation in and positive contribution to the socioeconomic lives and political arenas of South Sudan. We feature inspirational, motivational and educational real life stories of South Sudanese women, both from South Sudan and the diaspora, under the following overarching themes: (1) Profiles in Courage, (2) Tales of Courage, (3) Spotlighting, and (4) Case Studies. If you want to submit an inspirational article or a motivational commentary on women empowerment and gender parity, please email it to info@childbridesolidarity.org. Please include your full name, a short biography, email address, city and the country you are writing from.
