South Sudan army chief dies in Egypt
April 20, 2018 (JUBA/CAIRO) – South Sudan’s army chief of general staff, General James Ajongo Mawut has died, the government said Friday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the untimely death of General James Ajongo Mawut, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army’s chief of defense force,” partly reads President Salva Kiir’s statement.
The South Sudanese leader described the deceased as a “remarkable” man and committed founder member of the SPLM/A.
“He [Mawut] served this nation with dedication and honour and shall be remembered as [a] hero,” further stressed the statement.
Although it still remains unclear what caused the general’s death, family member said he spent months in Kenya seeking medical attention before he was relocated to Cairo.
The presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said he was shocked on hearing news regarding the death of the army chief of staff.
Meanwhile the government has declared three days of official mourning and ordered that all flags would be flown at half-mast.
Mawut, who joined the southern rebel movement in 1983, became army chief of staff in May 2017 after Gen. Paul Malong was sacked.
(ST)