| Hat tip Scorekeeper via Brian Tiemann. |
Bol and his best friend went to over 39 Congressmen personally and met with the Pentagon in the 90's telling them that their people were being decimated by the Arab Muslims from the North and would disappear if the US did not help. He said they got nothing. His friend said he told the US the greatest threat they would face in the future would be from Islamist Fundamentalism, at which most laughed.
So Manute reached into his own pockets in the millions to help support the starving refugees who had witnessed their homes and families destroyed. Eventually the Northern Sudanese government found out he was in a town supplying money and food and moral support to his people so they bombed the Refugee Camp. 13 people were killed that day but he lived. Frank DeFord asks him if he thinks they were aiming for him and he says 'probably'.
Eventually Khartoum in the North invited him to come for 'peace talks' which he did. He now says that was a big mistake and naiveté on his part. ""I should have known who I was dealing with""
After a month he realized that the whole thing was a sham and then the regime asked him to fight alongside them against his own people, which he refused. Eventually he was put into prison. His best friend was eventually able to buy and sneak him out of the country into Cairo. Bol used whatever money he had left to bribe one of his friends out of slavery. His friend was sold by the Islamists into slavery in Sudan after being captured. Eventually Bol escaped to the US as a penniless refugee.
Bol mentions that the only time the US did respond to the Khartoum Islamist regime (which was sheltering Ben Laden) was after the US was attacked in the Middle East in the late 90's. The attacks emanted from Sudan. That was the infamous bombing of the Pharmaceutical plant. Bol said he was only blocks from it when it happened.
The postscript is that Bol is broke and that some former NBA friends held a benefit to raise $$ for his huge Health bills after a drunk Cab Driver flipped a car Bol was in. He has a 50k/yr NBA pension that kicks in next year when he turns 45. He has had 'domestic disturbances' with his wife and they are going to counseling.
However, more importantly here is a famous face, and someone Deford says is truly a 'good guyÂ’ who gave up his entire fortune and good life in the US to try and save his people in Sudan.