Victoria Yar Arol (1948 – 1980) was a Sudanese politician. The first woman from Southern Sudan to study at the

University of Khartoum The University of Khartoum (U of K) ( ar, جامعة الخرطوم) is a public university located in Khartoum, Sudan. It is the largest and oldest university in Sudan. UofK was founded as Gordon Memorial College in 1902 and established in 195 ...

she was later a politician with seats on the regional assembly for Bahr el Ghazal Province and the National Peoples Assembly of Sudan.

Career

Victoria Yar Arol was born in 1948 in Sudan. She was the daughter of a

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 ...

tribal chief who had several wives and 20 to 30 children. Arol was the first member of her family to regularly attend school. She was the first woman from

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 ...

to enter the

, graduating with a degree in economics and political science in the 1960s. Arol married

Toby Maduot Dr. Toby Maduot Parek (1936-May 24, 2012), was the chairman of the Sudan African National Union (SANU), a member of parliament in the government of southern Sudan (GOSS) Legislative Assembly, and a member of the Sudanese Group for Human Rights (S ...

, a medical doctor and politician who would later to become chairman of the

Sudan African National Union The Sudan African National Union (Juba Arabic: اتحاد الوطنى الافريقى السودان ''Ettihad Al-Wataniy Al-Afriqiy Al-Sudan''; SANU) is a political party formed in 1963 by Saturnino Ohure and William Deng Nhial in Uganda. In th ...

(SANU), they had three children together. Arol was a SANU member and was the first woman elected to the People's Regional Assembly for the Bahr el Ghazal Province, where she chaired an anti-corruption committee. She was appointed a deputy minister in the regional secretariat of the

Sudanese 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 ...

in 1979. In 1979 she suggested then that the disputed cities of

Abyei The Abyei Area ( ar, منطقة أبيي) is an area of on the border between South Sudan and the Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in ...

Kurmuk : Kurmuk is a town in south-eastern Sudan near the border with Ethiopia. Kurmuk is inhabited by the Uduk and Berta peoples. Kurmuk is the administrative center for most of Gindi District, Kolnugura district, Borfa District, Jammus Omm Distric ...

and

Kafia Kingi The Kafia Kingi () area is a mineral-rich region on the border between Sudan, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. It is disputed between South Sudan and Sudan. The area was due to be given to South Sudan under the terms of the 2005 Com ...

be returned to the southern region as they had been so associated prior to independence. She later had a seat on the National Peoples Assembly of Sudan as a woman's representative member. She was the aunt of politician Nyandeng Malek Deliech, state governor of Warrap. When Deliech was close to completing her primary education around 1977 Arol took her to Juba to continue her studies rather than dropping out at the end of primary school as was the norm in her village. Arol died in 1980. She has been cited by South Sudan president

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 ...

as an inspiration to Southern Sudanese women.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arol, Victoria Yar 1948 births 1980 deaths People from Bahr el Ghazal Dinka people Members of the National Assembly (Sudan) 20th-century Sudanese women politicians 20th-century Sudanese politicians University of Khartoum alumni