South Sudan irrigation minister Manawa Gatkuoth dies in Cairo

JUBA — South Sudan’s Minister of Water Resources & Irrigation, Manawa Peter Gatkuoth Gual, died on Sunday morning in the Egyptian capital Cairo, top government officials close to him said.

One senior government official close to the minister said on condition of anonymity that the minister started complaining of chest pain on Wednesday after while working on a presentation that was to be submitted to the council of minister on Friday on the dredging of Naam river process.

“The minister complained while he was working on the presentation with the minister environment and forestry Josephine Napwon that was to be submitted to the council of minister on Friday,” the official said.

“After that, he was rushed to at least two hospitals here in Juba before he and his family would requested that he is evacuated and taken to Cairo to see doctors there for  urgent treatment. He arrived on Friday and was taken to the hospital there immediately,” the official added.

Another source also close to the minister said Egyptian doctors diagnosed the minister with high-blood pressure that blocked the flow of blood in his heart and that the doctors recommended an operated, failure of which led to the minister’s demise.

“The doctors in Cairo said that he should be given an operation because there was a vein in his heart that is blocking the blood pumping and that it should be given an operation immediately to rescue him,” the source said.

“After they made the surgery, he died at 5:00AM on Sunday Cairo local time,” the source added.

When contacted by Sudans Post, senior SPLM-IO member and Northern Bahr el Ghazal state chairperson of Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC), Dut Majokdit, said the group and the country have lost a great man.

“The movement and the country as a whole have lost a great man who was on the forefront in the fight for peace in our country. He was an iconic leader that has put forth the reforms that the SPLM-IO is fighting for,” he said.

When asked if the minister was sick, Majokdit said the minister had just felt a chest pain when he was rushed to Cairo where he passed on and was carrying on his duties prior to Wednesday afternoon.

”He was not sick, and the movement to investigate his death and will not leave it like that,” he added.