By Rose Nakwam<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
South Sudanese freelance journalist, Manas James Okony is set to launch a book, “South Sudan: The Untold Stories of the Liberation Struggle,” on Saturday, 26th of this month.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The book launch event, scheduled from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the French Institute, University of Juba, will feature a high-level panel discussion with academics, the former governor of Jonglei State, and other notable figures.<\/p>\n Speaking about his motivation, Manas explained, \u201cwhat motivated me to write the book was that the road to our independence was not an easy one. Those who gave their life to the liberation of this country, how do we remember them? We remember them by writing about their contribution to our liberation struggle. Of course many have been written.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere are number of people that I believe that were not remembered that why I entitled book as \u201cThe untold stories\u201d because if you are to go through the pages of the book, you will find out that many stories were not told, and I took it upon myself to tell the untold to us this young generation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Manas said his target audience is particularly the youth who did not witness the liberation struggle.<\/p>\n \u201cMy target is our generation, especially those who did not live to witness the liberation struggle, because we have to document the story of our fathers, mothers, forefathers who contributed a lot to the struggle. Especially those whose stories have not been told,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The book not only commemorates the sacrifices made but also sheds light on the atrocities committed against the South Sudanese people during the liberation struggle, particularly by successive regimes in Sudan.<\/p>\n He revealed the extensive historical scope of his work, stating, “it did not just start from Anyanya, the scope of the book started from the colonial era in 1821 to the post-independence era in South Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n Manas highlighted a specific historical event often overlooked of the Anglo-Anyuak War of 1912, where the Anyuak people, led by King Akwairuchak, resisted the British governor’s attempt to disarm and invade them, resulting in British losses.<\/p>\n He believes this untold story demonstrates South Sudan’s contribution to global conflicts.<\/p>\n \u201cThis story is never told, and it should be told because it shows that we were party to the so-called World War. We also contributed to that,” he said.<\/p>\n The journey of writing the book, which began in 2021 and concluded in 2024, was a challenging and costly effort. Looking ahead, Manas said he plans to write a book on the “conflicts in Jonglei State,” a region he has covered extensively for nearly a decade, gaining deep insights into the cultures of the Bor, Nuer, and Murle communities.<\/p>\n “We want peace because peace is the basis for everything. As a writer, journalist, and everyone, we can contribute to the development of this country in various ways.<\/p>\n Through writing, he said, \u201cwe can put South Sudan on an international stage, but for that to happen, we need peace.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rose Nakwam South Sudanese freelance journalist, Manas James Okony is set to launch a book, “South Sudan: The Untold Stories of the Liberation Struggle,” on Saturday, 26th of this month. The book launch event, scheduled from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the French Institute, University of Juba,[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":35067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Book-launch.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35066"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35068,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35066\/revisions\/35068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201cIt involved interviews, traveling from one location to another because it’s more like investigative writing,” Manas shared.
\nHe explained the financial strain of conducting interviews across distances and the high costs associated with publishing, especially given the lack of publishing houses in South Sudan, forcing writers to seek services in neighboring East African countries like Kampala and Nairobi.<\/p>\n
\nHe appealed to political leaders to prioritize peace to promote stable environment conducive to progress.<\/p>\n