Former Upper Nile state governor dies in Egypt after long illness

January 14, 2014 (JUBA) – The former governor of South Sudan’s Upper Nile state, General Gatluak Deng Garang Alier, died on Monday in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, after a long illness, relatives said.

“It is [a] great sorrow to announce the death of our leader and hero Major General Gatluak Deng Garang, who lost his life on 13 January 2014 in Cairo Egypt”, said a statement from his family.

The statement attributes the cause of the death to cancer. Garang travelled to Germany twice for medical treatment since the start of his illness.

He made a short trip to Cairo for medical treatment in December last year but he never returned to his home in Malakal.

Garang had previously been a close ally of Sudanese president Omer El-Bashir.

He was born in March 1953 in Nasir, which was then part of Sudan. After Sudan Military College he joined the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) where he became an airborne commissioned officer, from the Rank of second Lt-Major General.

He attended training courses in the United States and Saudi Arabia before beginning his political career, during which he held the following positions:

• Governor of Greater Upper Nile Region: Khartoum, Sudan
• Wally of the Greater Upper Nile State: Khartoum, Sudan
• Federal Minister of Coordination of States’ Affairs: Khartoum, Sudan
• Federal Minister of Health: Khartoum, Sudan
• Federal Minister of Survey and Physical Development: Khartoum , Sudan
• President of Southern Sudan Coordinating Council: Juba, Southern Sudan
• Federal Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries (GoNU): Khartoum , Sudan
• Governor of Upper Nile State: Malakal, South Sudan

(ST)