Mobil roundabout’s another victim after CE & Juba market
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Elisabeth Janaina
Jul 24, 2017, 11:21:04 AM7/24/17
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Mobil roundabout’s another victim after CE & Juba market
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separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
By Deng Kiir Akok
I was a bit late to arrive at London Cafeteria in Atlabara, Tumbura
road where a friend of mine invited me for lunch last Thursday, Jul
20, 2017.
On my way to the cafeteria, I received almost five telephone calls
from him asking for my current location while coming. I told him I was
at Mobil roundabout.
As though I had invited the problem, one bus passenger that was
sitting next to me nodded his head, feeling sorry for the name I used
to call the roundabout.
" What? Come again! Why don’t people ask for the name of the place if
they are not familiar with before locating themselves to others," said
the passenger in a loud voice? Then he looked around trying to see his
sympathisers.
In 2011, the then Central Equatoria state (CE) demolished the part of
the Juba Market with the intention to turn it into a Square.
The part of the market that was demolished was then fenced off from
the neighbouring buildings, including Juba main prison in the
south-east, Juba northern sector police in the east, Ivory bank in the
north and Jubadit store in the west.
People were trying it very hard to figure out what exactly would the
state do for the demolished part of the market.
A rumour didn’t take patience and it had that this place, once the
demolishing is over, would be surveyed and redistributed to their
former owners. So shockingly, it was signposted Jubek Square
overnight.
The square was named after Jubek, a British colonial period Bari
paramount chief with his base at Kondokoro Island. Also the current
capital of South Sudan, Juba derived its name from him.
It was time for Jubek state to put something to honour their fallen
hero. He was to be remembered in this particular place thought other
places with such name are coming soon.
In 2015, the president of the Republic of South Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir
Mayardit, had issued a decree creating twenty-eight states from ten
states. This was the first time for South Sudanese to give names that
are not of geographical or political background to their States.
Most of the former ten States’ name didn’t make a comeback in which
the former Central Equatoria State was one of them.
The move marked the end of the British colonialists’ and Khartoum’s
meaningless and war mongering names for the then southern Sudanese
residential areas such as Atlabara, Rujal Mafi in Juba, Jubek State
and Kor-sahud in Kuacjok, Gogrial State.
However, the northern Sudanese and British colonialists, in
particular, seem to have been defeated in pronouncing southern
Sudanese names for people and places.
But they never gave up calling these names. Thus, their poor
pronunciations led to the creation of different names apart from the
existing ones as the like of Gakrial that becomes Gogrial.
The same thing happened to the present day Wau which was called Wath.
Toc becomes Tonj, Mading Ayuel to Awiel, and other towns that share
the same grievances and didn’t appear in this list.
No name that got correct the pronunciation from the colonialists.
Thus, every name for the people of southern Sudan or the place was
getting wrong in the mouth of northern Sudanese and British colonial
masters.
As the time went, the correct southern Sudanese names were gradually
forgotten and completely gone.
Since the current thirty-two states are maximising freedom within
their territories, the governor of Jubek State, Augustino Jadallah
Wani renamed Mobil roundabout ’Jubek roundabout on May 18, 2017.
The renaming ranked Mobil in the third position in the list of places
that saw a drastic change of their original names into chief Jubek’s
name after the former Central Equatoria State and part of the Juba
market.
Mobil is an American oil company that operates petrol stations in many
countries including South Sudan.
It had in the past a petrol station at this roads join lying between
All Saints Cathedral church and Juba teaching hospital before selling
it to Petronas, then to foil and finally to the Nile Petroleum
Corporation.
The majority of Dinkas assumes that the place was called Mabil, a
Dinka word for a male cow with dark brown colour covering a large part
of its body with some white colour. Instead, it was just a coincident
that brings their bull’s colour Mabil near to Mobil.
Although the statue of chief Jubek at the roundabout is now looking
good with a cowboy hat, a hoe, bow and arrows, still it would miss
many generations without calling it Jubek roundabout.
The council should have learned from the experience of the former
Meridian Hotel at Suk al-Arabi in Khartoum which was renamed Regency.
No one never calls this accommodation industry with its newly acquired
name.
If at all the city council wanted to have a good number of places
named after chief Jubek, they should have looked for nameless places.
Streets are good examples.
To conclude this piece of writing, I hold no bad intention against the
State’s will but just putting suggestions so as to help it avoid
clashes of names like the current confusion in the former Mobil
roundabout.
Another thing for the city council to have done was to put a signpost
bearing the new name for the roundabout such that it directs whoever
pass that place.
Also, I would have welcomed the council’s decision if it had built
Schools apart from Jubek Model Secondary school in Gudele, public
libraries, museums, and then name them after Jubek.
In doing so, all the people living in the capital Juba regardless of
their nationalities would never miss mentioning this Bari infamous
name in their everyday lives.
The writer is a blogger with blog address
https://dengkiirsouthsudan.blogspot.com. He can be reached at
dengkiirs...@gmail.com.
Article
Comments (0)
email Email
print Print
pdfSave
separation
increase
decrease
separation
separation
By Deng Kiir Akok
I was a bit late to arrive at London Cafeteria in Atlabara, Tumbura
road where a friend of mine invited me for lunch last Thursday, Jul
20, 2017.
On my way to the cafeteria, I received almost five telephone calls
from him asking for my current location while coming. I told him I was
at Mobil roundabout.
As though I had invited the problem, one bus passenger that was
sitting next to me nodded his head, feeling sorry for the name I used
to call the roundabout.
" What? Come again! Why don’t people ask for the name of the place if
they are not familiar with before locating themselves to others," said
the passenger in a loud voice? Then he looked around trying to see his
sympathisers.
In 2011, the then Central Equatoria state (CE) demolished the part of
the Juba Market with the intention to turn it into a Square.
The part of the market that was demolished was then fenced off from
the neighbouring buildings, including Juba main prison in the
south-east, Juba northern sector police in the east, Ivory bank in the
north and Jubadit store in the west.
People were trying it very hard to figure out what exactly would the
state do for the demolished part of the market.
A rumour didn’t take patience and it had that this place, once the
demolishing is over, would be surveyed and redistributed to their
former owners. So shockingly, it was signposted Jubek Square
overnight.
The square was named after Jubek, a British colonial period Bari
paramount chief with his base at Kondokoro Island. Also the current
capital of South Sudan, Juba derived its name from him.
It was time for Jubek state to put something to honour their fallen
hero. He was to be remembered in this particular place thought other
places with such name are coming soon.
In 2015, the president of the Republic of South Sudan, Gen. Salva Kiir
Mayardit, had issued a decree creating twenty-eight states from ten
states. This was the first time for South Sudanese to give names that
are not of geographical or political background to their States.
Most of the former ten States’ name didn’t make a comeback in which
the former Central Equatoria State was one of them.
The move marked the end of the British colonialists’ and Khartoum’s
meaningless and war mongering names for the then southern Sudanese
residential areas such as Atlabara, Rujal Mafi in Juba, Jubek State
and Kor-sahud in Kuacjok, Gogrial State.
However, the northern Sudanese and British colonialists, in
particular, seem to have been defeated in pronouncing southern
Sudanese names for people and places.
But they never gave up calling these names. Thus, their poor
pronunciations led to the creation of different names apart from the
existing ones as the like of Gakrial that becomes Gogrial.
The same thing happened to the present day Wau which was called Wath.
Toc becomes Tonj, Mading Ayuel to Awiel, and other towns that share
the same grievances and didn’t appear in this list.
No name that got correct the pronunciation from the colonialists.
Thus, every name for the people of southern Sudan or the place was
getting wrong in the mouth of northern Sudanese and British colonial
masters.
As the time went, the correct southern Sudanese names were gradually
forgotten and completely gone.
Since the current thirty-two states are maximising freedom within
their territories, the governor of Jubek State, Augustino Jadallah
Wani renamed Mobil roundabout ’Jubek roundabout on May 18, 2017.
The renaming ranked Mobil in the third position in the list of places
that saw a drastic change of their original names into chief Jubek’s
name after the former Central Equatoria State and part of the Juba
market.
Mobil is an American oil company that operates petrol stations in many
countries including South Sudan.
It had in the past a petrol station at this roads join lying between
All Saints Cathedral church and Juba teaching hospital before selling
it to Petronas, then to foil and finally to the Nile Petroleum
Corporation.
The majority of Dinkas assumes that the place was called Mabil, a
Dinka word for a male cow with dark brown colour covering a large part
of its body with some white colour. Instead, it was just a coincident
that brings their bull’s colour Mabil near to Mobil.
Although the statue of chief Jubek at the roundabout is now looking
good with a cowboy hat, a hoe, bow and arrows, still it would miss
many generations without calling it Jubek roundabout.
The council should have learned from the experience of the former
Meridian Hotel at Suk al-Arabi in Khartoum which was renamed Regency.
No one never calls this accommodation industry with its newly acquired
name.
If at all the city council wanted to have a good number of places
named after chief Jubek, they should have looked for nameless places.
Streets are good examples.
To conclude this piece of writing, I hold no bad intention against the
State’s will but just putting suggestions so as to help it avoid
clashes of names like the current confusion in the former Mobil
roundabout.
Another thing for the city council to have done was to put a signpost
bearing the new name for the roundabout such that it directs whoever
pass that place.
Also, I would have welcomed the council’s decision if it had built
Schools apart from Jubek Model Secondary school in Gudele, public
libraries, museums, and then name them after Jubek.
In doing so, all the people living in the capital Juba regardless of
their nationalities would never miss mentioning this Bari infamous
name in their everyday lives.
The writer is a blogger with blog address
https://dengkiirsouthsudan.blogspot.com. He can be reached at
dengkiirs...@gmail.com.
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