JUBA – General Joseph Lagu Yanga, a leading figure in South Sudan’s liberation struggle, has died in Juba, President Salva Kiir announced on Tuesday.
Kiir declared national mourning, ordering flags across South Sudan and at diplomatic missions abroad to fly at half-mast until Lagu is buried. He also said he would personally bid the late general a state farewell.
“It is with profound sorrow and deep shock that I announce the peaceful passing of His Excellency, Gen. Joseph Lagu Yanga, which occurred this afternoon in Juba,” Kiir said.
Lagu led the Anyanya resistance movement during the first Sudanese civil war. In 1972, he signed the Addis Ababa Agreement with Sudanese President Gaafar Nimeiry, ending the war and granting southern Sudan regional autonomy.
Following the agreement, Lagu rejoined the Sudanese armed forces as a major general and oversaw the integration of former fighters into the national military. He later commanded the army’s Southern Division, based in Juba.
He entered politics in 1978, becoming president of the autonomous Southern Region’s High Executive Council. In 1982, he was appointed Sudan’s second vice president, serving until 1985.
Lagu later held diplomatic posts, including Sudan’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 1990 to 1992.
Ahead of South Sudan’s 2011 independence referendum, he served as a special presidential adviser to Kiir and supported the south’s pursuit of self-determination.
In his mourning announcement, Kiir urged South Sudanese to celebrate Lagu’s life and legacy.
“As his family and the nation mourn his passing, I urge the public to also celebrate his life, because he lived to see the birth of the country he fought for,” Kiir said.
Lagu was born on November 21, 1931, in Momokwe, in present-day Magwi County, Eastern Equatoria State. He published his memoir, Sudan Odyssey: From Ruin to Hope, in 2006.
