Abdel Rahman Sule is a South Sudanese politician who was one of the founders of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, officially registered as the "Southern Party" in 1953, the main party in

Southern Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Con ...

in the years immediately before and after independence in 1956. Abdel Rahman Sule belonged to the

Bari people The Bari are a tribe of Karo, Nilotic people inhabiting South Sudan. The Bari speak the Bari language as a mother tongue, which belongs to the Nilotic family. Overview The Bari of the Nile are sedentary agro-pastoralist. They exploit the s ...

. He has been described as a farmer and as a trader. Sule was the son of a village chief. Speaking of his childhood, he said: "The effendi who came around our village to kill elephants were Muslims. I used to see what these people were doing. That is how I became a Muslim. In 1927, I was caught with arms from Ethiopia. By then I was already a Muslim. But I was very aware of my African-ness. When I was a kid, if I was woken late in the morning by my father, he would say 'if it had been in the days of the Ansars you would have been taken'. My father always woke me up early so that in his words I am not taken by the Ansars". Sule was at the forefront of pro-federalist politics in the 1940s and 1950s. Sule,

Stanislaus Paysama Stanislaus Paysama (died 1985) was one of the founders of the Liberal Party in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan a few years before Sudan gained independence in 1956. Early years According to his autobiography ''How a Slave Became a Minister'', Stanislaus was ...

and

Buth Diu Buth Diu\Böth Diew(d. c. 1972) was a politician who was one of the leaders of the Liberal Party in Sudan in the years before and after independence in 1956. His party represented the interests of the southerners. Although in favor of a federal s ...

founded the Southern Sudanese Political Movement in 1951, with the goals of achieving full independence for Sudan, with special treatment for southern Sudan. The southerners were excluded from the Political Parties agreement with the British colonial authorities, but in 1953 registered the Southern Party, later renamed the Liberal Party. The party was supported by almost all southern intellectuals and by the majority of southern people. Although also open to northerners, none joined. The new party was led by

Benjamin Lwoki Benjamin Lwoki was a politician from South Sudan who was an early activist in the movement for autonomy or independence from Sudan. He was also a former minister of public works-( Sudan), the first South Sudanese politician in the Sudanese cabinet. ...

and funded by Abdel Rahman Sule and Fahal Ukanda, both Muslims. Sule was known as "The Patron" of the party. Sule's

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

branch of the Southern Party was particularly active in recruiting future southern politicians. After the military crack-down in 1960, Sule went into exile and helped lead the south Sudan resistance movement from abroad.

References

{{reflist , 30em, refs= {{cite book , page=166 , title=African Affairs , volume= 72 , author =Royal African Society , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=1973 {{cite book , title=Southern Sudan: colonialism, resistance, and autonomy , author =Lam Akol , publisher=The Red Sea Press, Inc. , year=2007 , ISBN=1-56902-264-X {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1xxzGh74bOUC&pg=PA67 , page=67 , title=The Politics of Two Sudans: the south and the north, 18211–969 , author =Deng D. Akol Ruay , publisher=Nordic Africa Institute , year=1994 , ISBN=91-7106-344-7 Liberal Party (Sudan) politicians Sudanese Muslims