Wartorn South Sudan's Army Chief Dies In Cairo

James Ajongo 

South Sudan's army chief, James Ajongo died on Friday, the government said, in a development that further complicates the running of President Salva Kiir's administration amid a four-year-old civil war.

General James Ajongo died in Cairo after a short illness at the age of 64. He had joined the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 1983, when it was still a rebel group fighting for independence from Sudan.

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce the untimely death of Gen. James Ajongo Mawut, SPLA army's chief of defence force," government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said.

He was appointed to the position after his predecessor Paul Malong was sacked early last year amid resignations by some generals who alleged abuses by the military and tribal bias in the army ranks.


(Reuters)



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