JUBA—South Sudan on Friday laid liberation leader General Joseph Lagu Yanga to rest in a state burial in Juba, honouring a man whose leadership of the Anyanya One movement helped shape the country’s struggle for self-determination.
Lagu’s burial marked the first state funeral accorded to an individual since South Sudan gained independence in 2011, giving the former military commander and statesman a national send-off attended by President Salva Kiir, senior government officials, military officers, diplomats, church leaders, traditional authorities and members of the public.
The ceremony brought to a close several days of mourning and funeral observances that began with the public viewing of Lagu’s body at the national parliament on Wednesday. His remains were later taken to his family home for traditional funeral rites before a requiem Mass at All Saints Cathedral of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan in Mobil on Friday.
Following the church service, the body was taken to Independence Square, east of the Pope Francis Pavilion in Juba, where military officers lowered his casket into the grave. The South Sudan People’s Defence Forces accorded him military honours, while Kiir handed the national flag and a military cap to the bereaved family.
Lagu died in Juba on October 27, 2026, at the age of 94, leaving behind a political and military career closely connected to the history of South Sudan’s liberation struggle.
He led Anyanya One during Sudan’s first civil war, which broke out in 1955, and played a central role in negotiations that culminated in the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement. The agreement ended the first civil war and granted the then Southern Sudan regional self-government.
His transition from military leadership to public office continued after the peace agreement. Lagu served as president of the High Executive Council of the autonomous Southern Region from 1978 to 1979 and later became Sudan’s second vice-president, serving from 1982 to 1985. He also represented Sudan as its permanent representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1992.
His contribution to the liberation struggle and the political history of the region made him one of the prominent figures in the movement for Southern Sudan’s self-determination, which eventually led to the country’s independence in 2011.
The state burial was a formal national recognition of that legacy, bringing together representatives of the government, military and communities to honour a figure whose life spanned Sudan’s first civil war, the 1972 peace agreement and the emergence of an independent South Sudan.
