April 22nd 2018 (Nyamilepedia) – The government of South Sudan on Sunday announced that the body of the South Sudan’s army chief, 1st Lt. Gen. James Ajonga Mawut who died last week in Cairo, will be flown to the South Sudanese capital Juba on Monday.
Speaking to the Nyamilepedia on Sunday, Presidential Spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said the body of the army chief will be flown to Juba on Monday.
“It will arrive tomorrow from Egypt,” he said while responding to an inquiry by the Nyamilepedia.
He added that the government, after consultation with the family of the late army chief, will flown the body to the defunct Northern Bahr Al-Ghazal state capital Aweil for burial.
“And then after consultation of the family with the government, the body will be flown to Aweil for burial,” he added.
South Sudan’s army Chief Gen. James Ajongo Mawut died on Friday in a military Egyptian hospital where he has been under medical care for almost a week.
Gen. Anjonga Mawut was appointed in May 2017 by President Salva Kiir Mayardiit as the SPLA Chief of General Staffs after the later dismissed his predecessor Gen. Paul Malong Awan after the country’s security chief Gen. Akol Kor reportedly advised President Salva Kiir to dismiss him after uncovering a coup plot by Gen. Paul Malong Awan against the government.
Malong then fled the nation’s capital subsequently and headed toward his home town Aweil in protest of the dismissal but was stopped in Yirol County of Lakes State by SPLA loyal to Kiir and was forcefully returned to the country’s capital where he was put under house arrest until November 2017 after the Jieng Council of Elders (JCE) convinced president Kiir to led him go to Kenya under medical and health grounds but was barred from visiting his home town Aweil.
It is unclear when President Salva Kiir who is the SPLA Commander-in-Chief will appoint a successor.
