A mystical wooden staff once wielded by a 19th-century prophet has become central to South Sudan's ongoing civil war between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar. The sacred relic, believed to hold supernatural power, fuels ethnic violence as followers see Machar as the prophesied leader destined to rule.
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — According to legend, a South Sudanese spiritual leader brandished a mystical wooden staff during tribal warfare in 1878, calling forth lightning that killed enemy warriors.
This ceremonial object, called Ngundeng Bong’s dang, continues to hold legendary status as a supernatural weapon and now influences the ongoing bloodshed in the world’s newest country.
The wooden staff has become a disputed artifact in the conflict between South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir and opposition figure Riek Machar, who has possessed the relic for years. Machar’s supporters view him as the gap-toothed, left-handed leader prophesied by Ngundeng to eventually rule the nation.
This belief fuels Machar’s political campaign while simultaneously making him a target for adversaries. The two leaders represent different tribal communities — Kiir belongs to the Dinka, the nation’s dominant ethnic group, while Machar shares the Nuer heritage of the prophet Ngundeng.
Ethnic warfare erupted when the two politicians clashed in 2013. Kiir accused Machar of orchestrating a government overthrow attempt. Machar subsequently started an armed uprising that developed into a devastating civil conflict claiming approximately 400,000 lives. Following a 2018 ceasefire agreement that has since failed, Machar briefly returned as Kiir’s second-in-command.
Current hostilities have intensified to the point where officials are commanding citizens to flee rebel-controlled areas. This occurs despite Machar being confined to his residence and facing treason charges. Military footage recently showed a South Sudanese commander instructing government forces to “spare no lives.”
Various rebel groups, including the militia called the White Army, believe their fight serves to realize Ngundeng’s predictions and place Machar in the presidency.
Douglas H. Johnson, the British-American scholar who returned the staff to South Sudan, likens the relic’s significance to a parliamentary mace required for conducting official proceedings.
According to Johnson and other sources who discussed the matter with The Associated Press, Machar treats the staff as a spiritual artifact while using it to build political alliances.
“Much of this conflict connects to spiritual beliefs,” explained Mawal Marko, an independent researcher in Juba. “Many fighters, particularly eastern Nuer people, are battling in Ngundeng’s name.”
South Sudanese folklore contains numerous tales of brutality, and the Kiir-Machar rivalry represents the latest chapter in the tribal animosity that Ngundeng witnessed and attempted to end: Dinka fighting Nuer, Nuer fighting Dinka.
Ngundeng communicated his predictions through songs that people still listen to online today, seeking insights about their nation’s destiny. Interpretations of Ngundeng’s messages often vary.
“When examining prophecies over time, uncertainty always exists,” noted Christopher Tounsel, a historian specializing in greater Sudan at the University of Washington, discussing Ngundeng’s predictions.
“The most influential factor is people’s beliefs and emotions. That creates the greatest impact — not objective reality, but public perception.”
Ngundeng, who passed away in 1906, allegedly foretold his nation’s eventual independence. He envisioned future violence. Legend claims he prophesied about a messianic Nuer ruler for South Sudan who would lack traditional tribal facial scarification, be left-handed and gap-toothed, and have relationships with white women. Machar reportedly fits this description.
“We understand it possesses influence,” said Alex Miskin from the Rift Valley Institute research organization, referring to Ngundeng’s staff. “Whether Machar can channel authority through that object remains unknown to me.”
“Machar’s possession of the staff and its associated legend might intimidate some people,” Miskin observed.
The staff was carved from tamarind tree roots and adorned with copper wire. It measures approximately 110 centimeters (three and a half feet) in length. One section broke during the 1878 battle that the Nuer won. Subsequently, Ngundeng declared the staff damaged; no records exist of him wielding it successfully again.
Ngundeng’s son inherited the staff but was killed attempting to use it against colonial forces. Reports describe him weeping when he lifted the object and nothing occurred.
Taken as war spoils, the staff was thought permanently lost until Johnson, a respected South Sudan expert, found it in Bournemouth, England. He purchased the artifact and worked to return it to South Sudan, which lacked a proper museum.
In 2009, Machar received the staff in Juba, South Sudan’s capital, as the senior Nuer official in a government approaching independence from Sudan. A ceremonial white ox sacrifice accompanied the handover, with Machar photographed raising the staff overhead.
The staff’s homecoming was treated as a significant national occasion. Kiir acknowledged its arrival in an official statement cautioning against using the staff for warfare.
While serving as vice president, Machar stored the staff at his residence and displayed it to visiting Nuer dignitaries, Johnson reported. “He essentially used this as a cultural symbol, something meaningful to the Nuer rather than all of South Sudan, to recruit others into his political alliance,” he explained.
Johnson remembered the staff appearing unremarkable in an umbrella holder when he first encountered it. However, if Machar controls the staff, Kiir’s concern about it being “outside government oversight” would be understandable, he noted.
The Associated Press could not contact Machar for his perspective. His representative, Puok Both Baluang, stated that releasing Machar would be “equivalent to bringing peace.”
Despite his confinement, the 73-year-old Machar remains a powerful rival to Kiir, who has ruled without voter approval for 15 years. Officials promise elections in December. However, a vote excluding Machar that reinstalls Kiir would be viewed as denying Nuer people representation.
Their military competition started in the wilderness during the 1990s, when Machar commanded a splinter group that faced betrayal accusations during the extended independence war. During this division, Machar’s forces conducted a massacre targeting Dinka people, enraging Kiir and others.
Internal southern fighting temporarily weakened their independence movement and created permanent mistrust between Machar and Kiir. Machar maintained influence through Nuer fighter loyalty.
Kiir removed Machar from his deputy position in September after accusations that Machar remotely participated in an assault on government troops. Machar regularly appears in a courtroom cage during what he calls a politically motivated trial. Whether Ngundeng’s staff remains at his home is uncertain.
The staff “represents South Sudan’s heritage,” despite not being housed at Juba’s national archives building, said archivist Peter Tako.
“We understand it’s with Riek Machar,” Tako said about the staff. “I avoid discussing it.”
He described the staff as a sacred object “infused” with political power that made him feel unqualified to comment on it.