By Sabri Dibaco
South Sudan’s liberation leader, General Joseph Lagu Yanga, will be laid to rest east of the Pope Francis Pavilion at the Dr John Garang Mausoleum site in Juba, as the government prepares a three-day state funeral to honour his legacy.
The organising committee announced that the funeral programme will begin with the viewing of Lagu’s body at the National Parliament before proceeding to his family home and later to All Saints Cathedral of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan in Mobil for requiem prayers.
According to the committee, the body will lie in state at the National Parliament on the first day to allow members of the public and government officials to pay their last respects.
On the second day, the body will be taken to the family home, while the third day will begin with requiem prayers at All Saints Cathedral before the burial at the designated site east of the Pope Francis Pavilion.
The burial date has not yet been announced. President Salva Kiir Mayardit is expected to announce the date, after which the condolence book currently available at the National Parliament will be closed.
The committee also announced that the Madi community will conduct the final traditional funeral rite at the National Parliament four days after the burial.
The state funeral will be held under the theme “Celebrating the Legacy of Joseph Lagu”, while national flags have been ordered to fly at half-mast until the burial.
The burial site is significant, as it is located at the Dr John Garang Mausoleum, where the late founding chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is buried. Garang joined the Anyanya movement in 1970 and served under Lagu’s command during the first liberation struggle.
Lagu commanded the Anyanya movement during Sudan’s first civil war and played a central role in negotiations that led to the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement, which ended the conflict and granted Southern Sudan regional self-government.
He later served as president of the High Executive Council of the autonomous Southern Region from 1978 to 1979 and as Sudan’s second vice-president from 1982 to 1985. He also represented Sudan as its permanent representative to the United Nations between 1990 and 1992.
Born on November 21, 1931, in Momokwe, present-day Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State, Lagu died in Juba on October 27, 2026, at the age of 94.
The funeral arrangements are expected to bring together national leaders, members of the public and the Madi community to honour one of the key figures in South Sudan’s liberation history.