Daud Yahya Ibrahim Bolad (Jan 1952- January 1992) was a Sudanese politician and rebel leader. He came from the

Fur people The Fur (Fur: ''fòòrà'', Arabic: فور ''Fūr'') are an ethnic group predominantly inhabiting western Sudan. They are concentrated in the Darfur region, where they are the largest ethnic group.Gettleman, Jeffrey, "Chaos in Darfur on rise as ...

of the

Darfur Darfur ( ; ar, دار فور, Dār Fūr, lit=Realm of the Fur) is a region of western Sudan. ''Dār'' is an Arabic word meaning "home f – the region was named Dardaju ( ar, دار داجو, Dār Dājū, links=no) while ruled by the Daju, ...

region of the country. In the early 1970s, Bolad was nominated by the Islamist

National Islamic Front The National Islamic Front ( ar, الجبهة الإسلامية القومية; transliterated: ''al-Jabhah al-Islamiyah al-Qawmiyah'') was an Islamist political organization founded in 1976 and led by Dr. Hassan al-Turabi that influenced th ...

to be the president of the

Khartoum University Students Union Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing nor ...

(KUSU). He became the first KUSU president who was not from the Arab tribes along the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...

who dominate national politics. The position was seen as placing Bolad on the fast track to national political leadership as part of the 'western strategy' of Hassan al Turabi to gain the votes of Darfur and

Kurdufan Kordofan ( ar, كردفان ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory div ...

. Bolad's deputy and bodyguard at this time was Tayeb Ibrahim, nicknamed 'al Sikha' after the

rebar Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a Tension (physics), tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concr ...

with which he attacked student demonstrators. However, Bolad was arrested in 1971 by the police of then-President

Jaafar Nimeiry Jaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Jaafar Nimeiry, Gaafar Nimeiry or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; ar, جعفر محمد النميري; 26 April 192830 May 2009) was a Sudanese politician who served as the president of Sud ...

for his high-profile militant activity and severely tortured. Map of Darfur 2011

Racial Discrimination

After graduation Tayeb 'Sikha' rose up through the political establishment, while Bolad did not. The racial discrimination of the national political elite kept him from progressing, a charge he would make openly against the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

.Flint and de Waal, p. 21 Bolad would later write, "even when I go to the

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

to pray, even there, in the presence of

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

, for them I am still a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

'abd''and they will assign me a place related to my

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

." Bolad returned to Darfur and became a small businessman.

Separation from Islamic Movement

He had further second thoughts about the Islamist movement in 1988 after al-Turabi silenced all criticism of the

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

n-backed violence in Darfur. He was briefly associated with the

Sudan Socialist Union The Sudanese Socialist Union ( abbr. SSU; ar, الاتحاد الاشتراكي السوداني ''Al-Ittihad Al-Ishtiraki Al-Sudaniy'') was a political party in Sudan. The SSU was the country's sole legal party from 1971 until 1985, when the ...

, the party of Nimeiry, and continued to drift to the political left. He was described as "obsessive and driven, meticulously and energetically building up his political network".

Building the resisting force

Frustrated and disillusioned, Bolad went to

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

in 1989 seeking the support of President

Hissène Habré Hissène Habré (Arabic: ''Ḥusaīn Ḥabrī'', Chadian Arabic: ; ; 13 August 1942 – 24 August 2021), also spelled Hissen Habré, was a Chadian politician and convicted war criminal who served as the 5th president of Chad from 1982 unt ...

in starting a rebel movement in Darfur, but was rejected. He then went to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

to meet

John Garang John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005) was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) after the Second Sudanese Civil War, the comprehensive peace agreement ...

, leader of the

Sudan People's Liberation Army The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the army of the South Sudan, Republic of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 198 ...

(SPLA), which had been prosecuting the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil War of 1955 to 1972. Although it originate ...

in the south since 1983.Prunier, p. 73 Other prominent leftist Darfuri politicians, such as Ahmad Diraige, felt that the SPLA would use Darfur for its own purposes and refused to involve themselves. Bolad joined the SPLA in 1990 and received military training in

South Kurdufan South Kordofan ( ar, جنوب كردفان ') is one of the 18 wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 158,355 km² and an estimated population of approximately 1,100,000 people (2000).

SPLA military expedition

The given reason for the expedition was to spark a Darfuri guerilla movement and spread the civil war to the west, as had been done in the

Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages, ...

and

Blue Nile The Blue Nile (; ) is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the water ...

.de Waal, Alex
"Counter-Insurgency on the Cheap"

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

, 5 August 2004 SPLA chronicler Douglas Johnson suggests that the expedition may have been seen by the SPLA leadership as a diversionary tactic to create a rift in the north, like that created in the south by the splitting of the

SPLA-Nasir The SPLA-Nasir was a splinter faction of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), a rebel group that fought in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Originally created as an attempt by the Nuer people, Nuer tribe to replace SPLA leader John Garang in ...

faction under

Riek Machar Dr. Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who serves as the First Vice President of South Sudan. Political life In February 2020, Machar was re-sworn in as first vice president following a revitalised ...

and

Lam Akol Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, is a South Sudanese politician of Shilluk descent. He is the current leader of National Democratic Movement (NDM) party. He is a former high-ranking official in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), and subsequently bec ...

. Ethiopian President

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam ( am, መንግሥቱ ኀይለ ማሪያም, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian politician and former army officer who was the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 and General Secretary of the Work ...

, one of the major supporters of the SPLA, had recently been overthrown by the

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF; am, የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ዲሞክራሲያዊ ግንባር, translit=Ye’Ītiyop’iya Ḥizibochi Ābiyotawī Dīmokirasīyawī Ginibari) was an eth ...

. SPLA-Torit (the faction led by Garang) was thus fully engaged in fighting SPLA-Nasir in the south and could not send help to Bolad's force once it ran into difficulty. There had been little advance preparation done in Darfur and Abd-el-Aziz al-Hilew, who had been named military commander of the expedition, did not receive enough equipment. The force was composed of

Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...

fighters, who were perceived as foreigners in Darfur and the Mahdist networks, who were the only organized opposition to the government in Darfur, resented the insertion of a political competitor. The force intended to reach sanctuary in the

Marrah Mountains The Marrah Mountains or Marra Mountains (Fur, Fugo Marra; ar, جبل مرة, Jebel Marra are a range of volcanic peaks in a massif that rises up to . They are the highest mountains in Sudan. Geography The mountains are located in the center of t ...

but had to cross an arid expanse controlled by

Baggara The Baggāra ( ar, :wikt:بقار#Etymology 2, البَقَّارَة "heifer herder") or Chadian Arabs are a Nomad, nomadic confederation of people of mixed Arabs, Arab and Arabization, Arabized Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous African a ...

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s in the dry season, in which the only sources of water were the village boreholes that were both few and well-known. Bolad's presence was soon reported by the police, with at least one source indicating that he was reported by the Mahdists.Prunier, p. 74 A force composed of regular army and a horse-mounted militia composed of

Beni Halba The Beni Halba () is an Arab group located in the western Sudanese region of Darfur. The Beni Halba is one of the major Darfuri Baggara groups, along with the Habbaniya, Rizeigat and Ta’isha, and was granted a large '' hakura'' (land grant) i ...

Arabs quickly tracked and overwhelmed Bolad's force. The military governor of Darfur who directed the force was Tayeb Ibrahim 'Sikha', Bolad's old bodyguard and now both a physician and army colonel. There is no record of their meeting. The Beni Halba district town of Idd al Ghanam ("Well of Goats") was renamed

Idd al Fursan Idd is a parish and former municipality in Halden, Østfold county, Norway. The parish of ''Id'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality was (together with Berg) merged with the city o ...

("Well of Horsemen") in celebration of the victory and dozens of Fur villages who had not taken part in defeating Bolad were burned in reprisal.Flint and de Waal, p. 25

His Death

Bolad was captured alive and taken to Khartoum, where he was tortured to death in January 1992. Even worse, he was captured with his diary in which he had recorded every member of the underground resistance cells he had set up in Darfur. Many of these plotters disappeared into jails or disappeared entirely. Others were released after renouncing rebellion, though in the knowledge that they would continue to be watched by security forces. One history sums up the result, "The Darfurian resistance was set back by ten years." Darfurian dissidents drew a harsh lesson from this, becoming even more distrustful of the SPLA. With the failure of Bolad's insurrection and the coming to power of

Idriss Déby Idriss Déby Itno ' (18 June 1952 – 20 April 2021) was a Chadian politician and military officer who was the president of Chad from 1990 until his death in 2021. Déby was a member of the Bidayat clan of the Zaghawa ethnic group. A high-ranki ...

in Chad, and resulting lowering of Libyan involvement in the region, much of Darfur subsided into a state of generalized insecurity that never reached the status of actual peace. The '' Black Book'', a 2000 publication by Darfuri dissidents, lists Bolad as a "

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

".Flint and de Waal, p. 26

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolad, Daud 1992 deaths Sudanese politicians People from Darfur Second Sudanese Civil War Executed Sudanese people 1952 births