A prominent chief of the Anyuak community in Jonglei State’s Akobo County, Omot Okwier, died Sunday evening at a hospital in neighboring Ethiopia’s Gambella region, his community’s representative in the state parliament announced.
Speaking to Radio Tamazuj this morning, John Okei Okei, a lawmaker representing Akobo County in the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly, said Chief Omot Okwier, popularly known as Atii, passed away at the Gambella Regional Hospital where he was being treated.
“On Sunday at 7 p.m., we lost Chief Atii who was fighting for his life at the Gambella Hospital. He was moved there the previous day after falling severely ill with respiratory disease,” he stated. “His death is a big loss to our community. The untimely death of Atii is a huge loss to the people of Akobo, Jonglei State, and South Sudan as a whole.”
Chief Atii was a revered figure who served as a director for the Boma National Park and later the Greater Pibor Administrative Area (GPAA). Before his transfer to the wildlife department in 2005, Atii served as a Brigadier General in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) which he joined in the 1980s. He also participated in the Anyanya-I and Anyanya-II liberation struggles.