Doleib Hill was a mission station established by the American Inland Mission in

southern Sudan Southern Sudan may refer to: * the southern regions of the present-day Republic of Sudan in North Africa * South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the nor ...

, located approximately south of the city of

Malakal Malakal is a city in South Sudan, serving as the capital of Upper Nile (state), Upper Nile State in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan, along the White Nile, White Nile River. It also serves as the headquarter of Malakal County and it us ...

, on the northern bank of the

Sobat River The Sobat River is a river of the Greater Upper Nile region in northeastern South Sudan, Africa. It is the most southerly of the great eastern tributaries of the White Nile, before the confluence with the Blue Nile. Geography The Sobat River is ...

, then in the former Upper Nile province of

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, the present-day Panykang County of

Upper Nile state Upper Nile is a state in South Sudan. The White Nile flows through the state, giving it its name. The state also shares a similar name with the region of Greater Upper Nile, of which it was part along with the states of Unity and Jonglei. It had ...

, in the

Greater Upper Nile The Greater Upper Nile () is a region of northeastern South Sudan. It is named for the White Nile (it is its lowest portion in South Sudan), a tributary of the Nile River in North Africa, North and East Africa, East Africa. History The Greater ...

region of

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

Early years

Doleib Hill was established during the

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ') was a condominium (international law), condominium of the United Kingdom and Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day South Sudan and Sudan. Legally, sovereig ...

condominium period, in the early part of the 20th century, and developed into an important educational and religious center among the

Shilluk people The Shilluk ( Shilluk: ''Chollo'') are a major Luo Nilotic ethnic group that resides in the northeastern Upper Nile state of South Sudan on the western bank of the White Nile River in Upper Nile. Before the Second Sudanese Civil War, the Shill ...

of the region. The Reverend J. Alfred Heasty lived at Doleib Hill from 1921 and became an expert on the local Shulla people and their language. The Shilluk (Shulla) were primarily herdsmen rather than farmers, measuring their wealth and social standing in cattle. They felt it was wrong to kill a cow, but would eat one that had died. The Shulla also hunted and fished and foraged for wild edible plants.

Civil wars

During the

First Sudanese Civil War The First Sudanese Civil War (also known as the Anyanya Rebellion or Anyanya I, after the name of the rebels, a term in the Madi language which means 'snake venom') was fought from 1955 to 1972 between the northern part of Sudan and the sout ...

(1955-1972) the school was forcibly closed by government forces. The Government of Sudan targeted the Christianized-Westernized educated elite, treating them as rebels. In July 1965 the headmaster of the girls' schools at Doleib Hill was one of the first to be tortured and then killed. The school was reopened after the Addis Ababa peace accord of 1972. The school was subsequently forced to close for a second time after the outbreak of 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/Movement, Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil Wa ...

(1983-2005). The school buildings were occupied as a Sudanese government garrison in 1983. In late 1986 and early 1987 rebel Anyanya-2 forces attacked Shilluk villages near Doleib Hill and Taufikia several times. Possibly as many as 600 civilians were killed. In 1991 the Lou Nuer Anyanya-2 militia was based near Doleib Hill under Yohannes Yual when it declared for

Riek Machar Riek Machar Teny Dhurgon (born 26 November 1952) is a South Sudanese politician who has served as the vice president of South Sudan on several occasions, most recently as the first vice president, since 2020. A member of the Nuer ethnic group ...

's breakaway

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 A ...

. In 1995 Riek Machar granted an amnesty to Commander Gordon Kong Banypiny, who had been convicted for using his troops in an ethnically motivated attack on

Nasir Nasir () is a masculine given name, commonly found in Arabic which can mean "helper" or "one who gives victory" (grammatically the Stem I masculine singular active participle of consonantal verb root ''n-ṣ-r''). The female form of the name is ...

, held by a different section of Nuer within the SSIA command. After trying to raise support in the

Waat Waat is a village in the Nyirol County of Jonglei State, in the Greater Upper Nile region of South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; ...

region, Gordon Kong fled to Doleib Hill, which was held by a government militia commanded by Mabur Dhol, a former Anyana soldier. He went on from there to Malakak where he obtained arms from the government. Since 2011 Doleib Hill has been in the northern region of the new country of

, in the Upper Nile state.

References

Populated places in Upper Nile (state) Panykang County Sobat River {{SouthSudan-geo-stub