Martin Malual But-hokleec, a veteran member of the SPLM, has died after a road accident in Rumbek, Lakes State.
Malual died at Rumbek State Hospital on Tuesday after suffering injuries in the accident. Medical staff said he also had high blood pressure, which they said may have contributed to his death.
Malual was a long-serving SPLM politician and a former supporter of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), the movement’s former armed wing.
He was known for encouraging students from Rumbek Secondary School to join the liberation movement.
He was also among a group of people who set fire to the roof of a building belonging to Sudan’s then-ruling National Islamic Front, the predecessor of the National Congress Party (NCP), in 1983, according to accounts from people familiar with the incident. The building later became the SPLM party secretariat in Rumbek.
Malual took part in fighting on several SPLA fronts during the liberation struggle before he was wounded and lost a limb in the early 1990s.
He was involved in an accident while riding a motorized wheelchair before being taken to Rumbek State Hospital, where he later died.
A close family member, Marco Marial Manak, said the family had lost a veteran member of the SPLM.
“His loss at this crucial moment is a very big loss, not only for the family but also for the SPLM in Lakes State,” he said.
Manak described Malual as a man who loved his family, colleagues and the wider community.
Rumbek Mayor Abednego Ater also described Malual as “a great man” and “a man of the people”.
“We used to have good conversations with him. Now we have lost him in an accident which occurred suddenly,” Ater said.
“We did not know exactly whether his death was linked to his blood pressure.”
Ater said Malual had accommodated him and others when they first arrived in Rumbek.
“When we came here in Rumbek, the late Martin Malual was the one who accommodated us on his piece of land, which had been developed with tukuls. We lived with him for almost four years,” he said.
Dr. Abel Alier Kuluel, the medical officer in charge of the surgical ward at Rumbek State Hospital, said Malual was brought to the hospital after the accident.
He said the patient’s blood pressure was measured at 169/107 millimetres of mercury (mmHg) on arrival, which indicated hypertension.
“With these indicators, we resuscitated him. There was also a complaint of an accident, and we suspected that he might have suffered abdominal trauma,” Dr. Kuluel said.
He said medical staff monitored Malual while waiting for further examination and scanning.
Dr Kuluel said Malual subsequently died after suffering respiratory arrest.
He attributed the death to complications associated with hypertension and abdominal trauma.
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