Joseph Oduho Haworu (15 December 1929 - 27 March 1993) was a leading politician from South Sudan who was active in the struggle for independence and a founding member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM).
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Joseph Oduho was born into the Latuka community of Lobira in what is now Ikotos County, Eastern Equatoria state in Southern Sudan on 15 December 1929.[1] He was educated at Isoke Catholic Diocese Elementary School and Okaru Intermediate School, and became one of the first students at Rumbek Secondary School. He studied in Nyapeya in Uganda, then in Bakht Al Ruda Teacher's Institute, earning a Diploma in teaching in 1950. Following this he was a headmaster in intermediate schools in Maridi, Okaru and Palotaha.[2]
In 1953 Joseph Oduho led a protest against the lack of representation of southern, non-Arab people in the negotiations over Sudan's independence.[1] He was arrested in Maridi after the 1955 mutiny in Torit, accused of conspiracy and sentenced to death. He was released in the general amnesty after independence on 1 January 1956.[2] Odohu was elected to the first post-independence parliament in 1957. He spoke in favor of a federal organization for the underdeveloped regions of the south. The army seized power in 1958 and Joseph Oduho fled the country in 1960.[1]
Joseph Oduho was a founding member and the first president of the Sudan African National Union (1962-1964). He and William Deng published the first formal declaration of Southern Sudan objectives in The Problem of the Southern Sudan (1962). In this paper they argued for independence of the non-Muslim south from the Muslim north of Sudan. Joseph Oduho was one of the leader of the exiles seeking independence. Between 1965 and 1967 he was president of the Azania Liberation Front. He finally broke with the exile groups in 1971 due to disagreement with Joseph Lagu, commander of the Anyanya guerrilla fighters, who wanted to subordinate the political wing of the movement to the military wing. Oduho was committed to the unity of Southern Sudan, while Lagu wanted to withdraw into a smaller "Equatoria" region.[1]
On 3 May 1972 the Addis Ababa agreement was ratified as "The Southern Provinces Regional Self-Government Act 1972", bringing a temporary halt to the civil war. Joseph Oduho and Samuel Aru Bol were appointed to the southern executive.[3] He was given the position of Minister of Housing in the Southern Regional Government, Juba (1972-75).[1] In 1975, Joseph Oduho was accused of plotting for southern secession and was arrested, but was released in 1976 after an amnesty declared by President Gaafar Nimeiry when the South Sudan Union (SSU) and northern political parties had come to an agreement.[2]
Joseph Oduho ran successfully for election in 1977. He was appointed Minister of Cooperative and Rural Development (1978-1980) and Minister of Labour and Administrative Reforms (1980-1982). He was a member of the SSU Central Committee. In 1982 there were disturbances across the south, with some ethnic minority leaders calling for greater decentralization. Joseph Oduho was opposed to this, consistently advocating southern unity. He though that decentralization and tribalism were being fostered by northern politicians in order to weaken the south.[2]
In 1983, President Nimeiry dissolved the Southern Region that had been established following the 1972 Addis Ababa agreement. Joseph Oduho went into exile again and became a founding member of the SPLM. When the party was established on 16 May 1983, Joseph Oduho was made chairman and Colonel John Garang, a Dinka army officer, was made commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Later Oduho was deposed by Garang, who made himself leader of the SPLA/M.[3]
For several years Oduho was imprisoned by the SPLA. He was released in 1992 and went to East Africa, founding a movement of opponents of Garang. In March 1993 he flew to Khartoum to meet with dissident leaders, and then to Kongor in Jonglei State for further meetings with a view to broadening the base of SPLM leadership. A fight broke out between factions at the meeting on 27 March 1993 in which Oduho was killed.[1]