General Gordon Koang Chuol laid to rest in Juba

JUBA – Veteran South Sudan opposition commander and Anyanya-I fighter General Gordon Koang Chuol has this afternoon been laid to rest in South Sudan’s capital Juba, according to former oil minister Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth.

General Koang died in the Sudanese capital Khartoum earlier this month following a long illness, according to a statement by South Sudan First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

In a statement this afternoon, Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth said Koang was burred at the Martyrs Cemetery in Juba after directive from President Salva Kiir Mayardit.

“Today January 29, 2022 late Commander Gordon Koang Chuol Kulang was laid to rest at Martyrs/Heroes Cemetery in Juba, South Sudan,” he said in the statement extended to Sudans Post.

“His Excellency General Salva Kiir Mayardit the President of the Republic of South Sudan honored Commander Gordon Koang Chuol Kulang to be laid to rest with honor recognizing his contributions for the Liberation, Freedom and Independence Republic of South Sudan,” he added.

General Koang was a member of a group of Anyanya 1 commanders who formed, along with Dr. John Garang De Mabior, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/SPLA) in 1983, just less than a decade before the infamous 1991 SPLA split.

The split took place in August following what would became the ‘Nasir Declaration’ on August 28, 1991, and fitted the SPLA-Nasir, led by Machar, Dr. Lam Akol, CDR. Gordon Koang Chuol, against the SPLA-Torit led by Dr. John Garang De Mabior.

Following the 1997 signing of the Khartoum, peace agreement by the SPLA-Nasir and the Khartoum-based regime, Koang was integrated into the Sudanese army, though he has maintained a separate force.

In 2002, Machar returned to the SPLA and Koang remained behind in Khartoum. After Southern Sudan gained independence in July 2011, he has never returned to South Sudan, but briefly joined the SPLA-IO following the outbreak of war in December 2013.

He then accused Machar of failed leadership and went back to form his own group again. Around 2016, he felt sick and was flown to the Egyptian capital Cairo where he stayed for months receiving treatment.