Top religious leader who collapsed in Kajo-Keji on Monday dies in Nairobi

JUBA – A prominent South Sudanese religious leader who collapsed on Monday before he was flown to Juba and then to Nairobi has died in the Kenyan capital, according to senior religious leaders in South Sudan.

Emmanuel Murye Modi, the Bishop of Episcopal Church Diocese of Kajo-Keji, died hours after he was flown to Nairobi on Tuesday night, according to the Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Central Equatoria Internal Province Paul Yugusuk.

“I Dr. Paul Pitia Yugusuk, the Archbishop of Central Equatoria Internal Province, and on behalf of the entire bishops and congregations, I would like to inform His Grace Dr. Justin Badi Arama, the Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and the Episcopal Diocese of Kajokeji and the Kuku community that this morning at Nairobi Hospital at 5 am, Bishop Emmanuel Murye Modi has gone due to heart attack,” he said on Wednesday morning.

“May his soul rest in peace,” he added.

Yugusuk said on Monday that he was on a visit to Kajo-Keji for a reconciliation meeting when the deceased who had welcomed him collapsed. He said that the deceased is suspected to have been suffered from stroke during the time of his death.

“I visited Kajo-Keji today to attend a reconciliation meeting in Kajo-Keji, and Bishop Emmanuel was the one who received me at the airstrip this morning. After we arrived home, he just collapsed after a suspected stroke,” Dr. Yugusuk was quoted by Radio Tamazuj as saying on Monday.

“We have arrived in Juba, and the bishop is receiving treatment at Promise Hospital. The bishop is currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU),” he added.

Bishop Emmanuel Murye has been leading the Kajo-Keji diocese in Central Equatoria State since 2018.