Bol Mel was born in Rialdit, in the Ajuong chieftaincy of the Abiem section of the Malual Dinka, in Aweil East county. He is from the Patek—one of the largest and most prominent beny bith clans in Northern Bahr el Ghazal[1]—specifically the Akol subsection, which is the wealthiest part of the Patek. Rialdit’s location shielded it from northern raids during the second Sudanese civil war, allowing residents to move their cattle to Warrap during the worst of the attacks.
His father, Mel Kuol, was a beny bith and a wealthy customary chief who fought alongside Kiir during the first Sudanese civil war (1955–72). Bol Mel’s mother, from the Pamiaath clan of Malual Khon in Aweil East, also hails from a family of customary chiefs.
In 1987, Bol Mel left Northern Bahr el Ghazal for Ethiopia to join the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA). According to sources close to Bol Mel, his father urged him to seek out Kiir to ask him to support his education.[2] After military training in Ethiopia, Bol Mel met Kiir. He mentioned his father’s friendship with the future president, and received backing to study in Uganda with church sponsorship. Bol Mel spent the rest of the war in school, first in Gulu, northern Uganda, and then at the Apostle of Jesus Minor Seminary in Moroto. He completed his A-levels at St Paul’s College in Mbale (2000), and obtained a BA in International Business Administration from United States International University-Africa (2004). He later obtained a master’s (2011) and a PhD (2016) from the same institution.
[1] The beny bith, or masters of the spear, are renowned Dinka spiritual leaders.
[2] Author telephone interviews with confidential sources in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, October 2025.
| < PREVIOUS | NEXT > |