Hundreds welcome prophet's rod in South Sudan

By Skye Wheeler

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Hundreds of people packed South Sudan's Juba airport on Saturday to welcome home the rod of a revered tribal prophet, 80 years after it was taken by British soldiers.

Prophet Ngundeng Bong's ceremonial stick or "dang" was taken as a trophy after a British victory over the region's powerful Nuer tribe in 1929.

It was brought back to the south by British academic Douglas Johnson who bought it at an auction in the UK.

Many in the chaotic crowd saw the return as a potent symbolic act, at a pivotal time in the history of strife-torn south Sudan, which has been promised a referendum on independence from north Sudan in 2011.

The prophet's supporters say Ngundeng Bong predicted a Nuer leader would rule an independent south.

Some members of the crowd said it was particularly significant that the rod was officially received by south Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, who is a Nuer, the south's second largest tribal group.

"The chosen one is coming soon. That man he is here in the airport," said Chan Keuth, adding he was talking about Machar. Keuth carried a banner marked with the message "No peace in southern Sudan without Ngundeng."

South Sudan fought the north in a two-decade civil war that ended with the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. In recent months, the Lou Nuer tribe has also been caught up in a wave of ethnic violence with other groups, mostly sparked by long-running disputes over cattle.