Taban Francis Peter Benjamin, chairperson of the Madi Youth League’s Lologo Zone, made the appeal on Thursday while speaking to Sudans Post at Lagu’s family home in Juba, where his body was taken for traditional funeral rituals ahead of Friday’s state burial.
“My appeal to the government of South Sudan is they should build a university in Nimule in honour of our late father, in memory of Joseph Lagu, and build a hospital in the memory of our late father,” Benjamin said.
He also urged the Ministry of Roads to name one of the streets in the capital after the late general.
“My third appeal is I’m requesting the Ministry of Road to name one of the streets in Juba in honour of our late father, General Lagu,” he said.
Benjamin thanked President Salva Kiir Mayardit for granting Lagu a state burial, saying the government’s support had helped ensure that the late leader was accorded a dignified send-off.
Burial programme
Lagu’s body was taken to his family home on Thursday in accordance with Madi traditional funeral practices, which involve relatives and community members gathering for prayers, singing and dancing before the body is taken to church.
According to the funeral programme, a requiem service will be held at All Saints Cathedral in Juba on Friday morning, attended by President Kiir and other senior government officials.
After the church service, the body will be taken to the designated burial site near the Dr John Garang Mausoleum area for a state burial, which will include a 12-gun military salute.
The organising committee has said there will be no speeches at the burial site and has urged mourners to leave peacefully after the ceremony.
Who was Joseph Lagu?
General Joseph Lagu Yanga was a South Sudanese military officer and liberation movement leader who commanded the Anyanya One rebellion during Sudan’s first civil war.
Born on November 21, 1931, in Momokwe, present-day Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State, Lagu joined the southern rebellion in 1963 after serving in the Sudanese army.
In 1968, he became leader of the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement and commander-in-chief of its armed wing, Anyanya One.
Lagu played a central role in negotiations that led to the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, which ended Sudan’s first civil war and granted southern Sudan regional self-government.
Following the agreement, he returned to the Sudanese army and later served as president of the High Executive Council of the autonomous Southern Region from 1978 to 1979. He subsequently became Sudan’s second vice-president from 1982 to 1985.
He also served as Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1992 and later worked as a special adviser to President Salva Kiir after South Sudan gained independence in 2011.
Lagu died in Juba on October 27, 2026, aged 94.
