JUBA, South Sudan – The body of late liberation leader General Joseph Lagu Yanga was taken to South Sudan’s national parliament on Wednesday, where President Salva Kiir Mayardit opened public viewing ahead of his burial on Friday.
Lagu’s body arrived at parliament in Juba in the morning, draped in the South Sudanese flag, as members of the public gathered to pay their final respects to the former Anyanya One leader.
According to the organizing committee for the state burial, the body will remain at parliament throughout Wednesday and overnight before being taken to his family home on Thursday, allowing relatives to pay their respects.
On Friday, a requiem Mass will be held at All Saints Cathedral of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan in Mobil before Lagu is taken to his burial site east of the Pope Francis Pavilion in Juba.
Lagu will be buried at the site where former Sudan People’s Liberation Movement leader Dr John Garang is buried. The wider venue is popularly known as the Dr John Garang Mausoleum.
Lagu led the Anyanya movement during Sudan’s first civil war and played a central role in negotiations that produced the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, which ended the conflict and granted Southern Sudan regional self-government.
He later served as president of the High Executive Council of the autonomous Southern Region and as Sudan’s second vice-president.
He died in Juba on October 27, 2026, aged 94.
His state funeral is expected to bring together government officials, military leaders, relatives and members of the public to honour his role in South Sudan’s liberation struggle.
