South Sudanese military chief dies

Juba, 23 Aug – (ANA) - A powerful South Sudanese army officer and former militia leader influential in some of the country's richest oil regions during its long civil war with the north has died, officials said yesterday. Paulino Matip, deputy commander in chief of South Sudan's national army, was a key figure in the civil war that killed an estimated 2 million people and left the now-independent South one of the world's least developed countries. South Sudan seceded from Sudan a year ago under a 2005 peace deal and the new government has been struggling to impose its authority over a country the size of France awash with guns. Backed by Khartoum, Matip had split from the southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) during the war and battled factions of the rebel army in areas of the oil-rich Unity State. He rejoined the SPLA in 2006 under President Salva Kiir's "big tent" policy of reconciliation to unite the South after the peace deal. Matip "contributed a lot to the unity and reconciliation in this country," South Sudan's Information Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin told reporters after announcing he had died in Kenya of a "long illness" while waiting to fly to the United States for treatment. His body is due to be flown to Juba on Friday for burial. (ANA)

FA/ANA/23 August 2012-------------