South Sudan's army chief General James Ajongo has died: government spokesman

Thomson Reuters

JUBA (Reuters) - South Sudan's army chief General James Ajongo died in Cairo on Friday following a short illness, government spokesman Michael Makuei Lueth said.

"It is with a heavy heart that I announce the untimely death of Gen. James Ajongo Madut, SPLA army's chief of defense force," Lueth said.

Ajongo joined the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the formal name of the South Sudanese military, in 1983, when the SPLA was still a rebel group fighting for independence from Sudan.

(Reporting by Denis Dumo; Writing by Omar Mohammed; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

See Also:

• Russia says Trump invited Putin to U.S. during phone call

• EU's Barnier says still some 25 percent of work to do on Brexit

• Hungary PM Orban says expects ongoing fight over migration