Veteran politician Edward Lino Wuor Abyei is dead aged 74.
Edward died in hospital in India on Wednesday, according to his relative Mustafa Biong.
“He passed on yesterday morning in Bangalore,” Mustafa told Radio Tamazuj, “Edward had been suffering from heart problems. But the main cause of his death remains unclear after he underwent a knee operation.”
Mustafa said the family and government officials are working closely to fly the body back home.
Edward was a leading member of South Sudan’s governing party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war in December 2013, Edward served as South Sudanese Co-Chair of the Abyei Joint Oversight Committee (AJOC) and Chair of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the disputed region of Abyei.
After the 2013 civil war, Edward joined the opposition SPLM-IO led by Dr. Riek Machar, who is now the country’s first vice president.
He was born in Abyei on February 1946.