Top SPLA-IO commander dies in Bentiu

JUBA – A senior South Sudan main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has died in Unity state’s capital Bentiu.

Major General Stephen Chaap Majuan who was the SPLA-IO Director of Prison Service in Unity State passed on Wednesday morning with some close friends speculating he might have died of high-blood pressure.

He was in his 70s.

“This is to confirm that General Chaap Majuan has died and I think he died of high blood pressure and it is a very sad day not only for the people of Unity State, but for the South Sudanese in general,” one friend who said he has been following conversation around his demise said.

General Chaap is a veteran Anyanya and SPLA fighter. He joined the war against Sudan for South Sudan’s independence in the 1970s and became an icon of liberation struggle for many in South Sudan.

General Chaap is the second senior SPLM/A (IO) member to die in a week.

Last Sunday, South Sudan minister of water resources and irrigation Manawa Peter Gatkuoth Gual passed on in Egypt after experiencing chest complication in Juba where he was rushed to Cairo for medication.