The Bible says blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God, and this world after you die, you will always be remembered two things. You will either be remembered for creating peace among people or causing trouble among them.

Several miles away from Juba in North America now lies a man who played a pivotal pace-setting role in pulling South Sudan from the bondage of subjugation. That man is Gen. Colin Powell who once served as the US secretary of state died on Monday after battling COVID-19. 

On April 1, 2003, Lt. Gen. Lazarus Sumbeiywo who was serving as the chairperson of the IGAD Secretariat on Sudan peace penned a letter to the United States via the office of Gen Colin Powell who served as the secretary of state in Washington.

Sumbeiywo’s words were nothing short of a compliment for the efforts Mr Powell had given to the peace process.

He noted: ‘‘As the Chairman of the Sudan Peace Secretariat of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), I have had the responsibility of shepherding the Parties through the talks. As I mentioned in our December meeting in Washington, this responsibility can, at times, be both rewarding and frustrating.

‘‘It is encouraging to know that President Bush and the American Congress remain quite concerned with Sudan’s plight. Their choice to become involved through the Sudan Peace Act is highly commendable. The intentions of the Sudan Peace Act are fairly evident: end the war, stop the killing, and help the people of Sudan’’. 

As South Sudanese, we ought to remember the former US Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell for ending Sudan’s longest civil war between the Sudanese government and the then Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/ Army that in culminated total independence on July 11, 2011. 

Gen. Powell while serving as the US Secretary of State played a great role during the regime of President George W. Bush to ensure that conflict in Sudan was ended. He put more pressure on the stubborn Khartoum government to return to the negotiation table in Kenya.

Powell visited the negotiations in Kenya in October 2004 and told negotiators that the Bush administration was prepared to invite officials of the Sudanese government and SPLA to the White House to celebrate an eventual accord.

On December 31, 2004, after the parties missed their self-declared December 31 deadline for an agreement, Gen Powel urged both parties to reach a final deal agreement the following month which happened to be January 9, 2005. He called on the two sides in the Sudan peace talks to show the leadership needed to conclude an early agreement and end the country’s two-decade-long civil war. 

Who is he?

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Powell spent 35 years in the army and climbed to the luxurious rank of a four-star general. He would then become the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He attracted praises and tongue-lashing in equal measure after oversight of the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991. This made him a name that prompted speculation that he would run for the presidency but it did not take long before critics faulted him for the invasion of Iraq.

He instead joined President George W. Bush’s administration in 2001 as secretary of state, the first Black person to represent the U.S. government on the world stage. 

In 2011, Late Gen Colin Powell led the US delegation to Southern Sudan to attend ceremonies marking the independence of the world’s newest nation.

Powell was instrumental in brokering the 2005 peace accord between the north and south that stopped a two-decade civil war in Sudan and paved the way for the independence vote.