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.
There were emotional scenes as the plane carrying Johnson and the rod arrived at the airport. Ululating supporters rushed on to the runway, surrounding the aircraft, as Nuer warriors leapt into the air waving sticks and shields.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki was almost totally ignored as his plane touched down at the same time, at the start of an official African Union visit.
Machar received the rod on the airstrip then led the crowd on a jubilant tour of the airport, ending in the car park, where a white bull was slaughtered.
The vice-president is a key but controversial figure in the south's former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), which is led by southern president Salva Kiir, a member of the region's largest ethnic group, the Dinka.
Machar split off from the SPLM during the civil war in 1991, sparking bitter and bloody in-fighting, before rejoining the movement just before the 2005 peace deal.
Douglas Johnson said he bought the rod in 1999 from the family of a British district commissioner.
"I bought the dang, with the intention of returning it to the Ngundeng family and the Lou Nuer ... when circumstances permitted. The end of the civil war and the creation of the Government of South Sudan has now made that possible," he said.
Johnson said the prophet had used songs and prayer to call for an end to tribal violence in the south. The visionary's pipe and drum have already been returned to the region.
The rod, which is made from the root of a tamarind tree and decorated with copper wire, is due to be taken back to the prophet's former base near the village of Waat.
(Editing by Andrew Heavens)