The committee said President Salva Kiir Mayardit had selected a burial site east of the Pope Francis Pavilion at the mausoleum. The burial date is yet to be announced.
The site is also the resting place of Garang, the founding chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), who died in a helicopter crash in July 2005. Garang joined the Anyanya movement in 1970 and served under Lagu during Sudan’s first civil war.
Lagu commanded the Anyanya movement, which fought the Sudanese government during the first civil war, and played a central role in negotiations that led to the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement. The accord ended the conflict and granted the then Southern Sudan regional self-government.
Following the agreement, Lagu entered Sudan’s political establishment. He served as president of the autonomous Southern Region’s High Executive Council from 1978 to 1979 and as Sudan’s second vice-president from 1982 to 1985. He later served as Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1992.
Lagu died in Juba on October 27, 2026, aged 94. President Kiir declared a period of national mourning and ordered flags to fly at half-mast until his burial.
