SPLM-IO to investigate Manawa’s ‘surprise’ death

JUBA — South Sudan’s main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) said Sunday that it will investigate the circumstances leading to the demise of its senior member Manawa Peter Gatkuoth in Cairo during the early hours of Sunday.

Gatkuoth who was the minister of water resources and irrigation on the ticket of the opposition group passed on in Cairo after being flown in from Juba where he was initially treated for chest pain the evolved to be a blood pressure, according to officials close to him.

Speaking to Sudans Post this morning, senior SPLM-IO member and Chairperson of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission of Northern Bahr el Ghazal state Dut Majokdit, said the SPLM-IO will conduct an investigation to find the circumstances behind what he calls a surprise death.

“The movement under the chairman and commander in chief Dr. Riek Machar Teny will not led this go without investigation. This surprise death of Comrade Manawa will be done in a way that will tell the public, the people of South Sudan in general and the SPLM-IO membership in particular the circumstances of his death,” he said from Aweil.

In a statement this afternoon, First Vice President Machar who is also the chairman of the SPLM-IO confirmed the top opposition official’s demise and said Egyptian doctors tried their best to rescue him from a blood pressure he said had destroyed some veins his in heart, stomach and kidneys.

“Hon. Manawa Peter Gatkuoth Gual, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation died in hospital in Cairo. He was, on Friday 17th June 2022, flown from Juba to Egypt after being attended to in Freedom and Baraka hospitals for chest pain in Juba. In Cairo, he was diagnosed to have been suffering from High Blood Pressure that destroyed the main vein to his heart, stomach and kidneys,” Machar said in the statement extended to Sudans Post.

“Yesterday, the doctors tried their best to replace the veins but he passed on at 5:00 am this morning Sunday 19th June 2022. Preparations are underway for his body to be flown to Juba. The burial arrangements will be communicated later on,” he added.