Paride Taban was born in 1936.[6] He was ordained on 24 May 1964 and consecrated a Bishop on 4 May 1980 in Kinshasa by Pope John Paul II.[7] He was auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Juba and the titular bishop of Tadamata from 1980 to 1983.[7]
Taban was the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Torit in what was then Sudan from 1983 until 2004.[3] In 1989, when the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) overtook Torit, he was arrested with three other Catholic priests by the SPLA.[8] Until 1990 he and Nathanael Garang were the only two Bishops active in areas held by the SPLA.[9] After his retirement from the diocese, he led an effort to make peace in South Sudan real by setting up the Kuron Peace Village, established in 2005.[3]
Taban was sent to Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide for reconciliation efforts.[10]
In December 2016, Taban was appointed by the President Salva Kiir Mayardit as a co-chair of the steering committee of National Dialogue.[14] Taban had witnessed the suffering of South Sudanese since he was young and he was not happy to see south South Sudanese suffering at the hands of their fellow southerners.[15]
Taban died on 1 November 2023, at the age of 87.[16]
In May 2018 Taban received the Four Freedoms Award, freedom of Worship medal from the Roosevelt Foundation for his life-long and selfless dedication to the cause of bringing freedom and peace to the people of South Sudan.[18]
On 9 November 2023, Taban posthumously received the Opus Prize for his lifelong dedication to the Kuron Peace Village. The award was accepted by Dr. Margaret Itto, deputy Chair of the Board for Holy Trinity Peace Village Kuron.[19]
^Rone, Jemera (1994). Civilian Devastation: Abuses by All Parties in the War in Southern Sudan. Human Rights Watch. pp. 126–127.
^We Have Lived Too Long to Be Deceived - South Sudanese discuss the lessons of historic peace agreements. London/Nairobi: Rift Valley Institute (RVI). 2015. p. 32. ISBN978-1-907431-39-5.
