South Sudanese former minister of higher education dies

June 29, 2015 (NAIROBI) – A South Sudanese former minister of higher education and scientific research has died in Germany after battling illness for many years.

Peter Nyot Kok passed away on Sunday. He was in coma for 4 years in one of German’s hospitals from a disease which was not yet disclosed to the press.

Armed opposition leader, Riek Machar, in a statement seen by Sudan Tribune on Monday extended his condolences to the family of the deceased.

“On behalf of the Movement and on my own behalf, I pay my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of late Comrade Dr. Peter Nyot Kok, who on Sunday passed away in Germany,” Machar said in the statement.

He recalled that the late was a revolutionary comrade who played his role in the long struggle for freedom of the people of South Sudan.

Kok served as the minister of higher education in Khartoum when the Government of National Unity (GONU) was formed after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005 prior to the split of the country in July 2011.

His body will be brought to South Sudan and buried in his home town of Rumbek in Lakes state.

(ST)