Who is Gen. John M. Gatduel, the first S. Sudan army officer to die of COVID-19?
General Madeng addressing a workshop in Juba in 2010 (Photo credit: courtesy)
May 13, 2020 (SSNN) – South Sudan senior army officer Gen. John Madeng Gatduel died on Wednesday after contracting the COVID-19, the sickness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to family members and close friends.
Gen. Madeng, a highly respected and learned South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) officer, contracted the virus last week after coming into contact with some South Sudanese who tested positive for the virus earlier.
On social media, several South Sudanese users expressed sympathy and solidarity for the family Gen. Madeng. Some referred to him as “intelligent and sharp-minded” army general.
“It’s indeed painful to lost very intelligent and sharp minded general at the early ages,” Juan Dar, a senior member of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), said of him.
“May your soul rest in eternal peace nephew.”
General Stephen Buay Rolnyang, a former SSPDF officer said “We have lost the great men who have contributed a lot in the liberation struggle of our people.”
So, who is General John Madeng Gatduel?
Gatduel is a South Sudan army officer and, formerly, a politician. He was born in South Sudan’s Mayom County of Unity state in the early 1970s and was raised in different cities, in then united Sudan, including the capital Khartoum.
In 2011, he was appointed by then Unity state governor, and now South Sudan Vice-President, Taban Deng Gai, as as the commissioner of Mayom county. General Madeng is known in Unity state for his efforts to promote peace between the Leek and Bul who have a tradition of cross-border fighting motivated by cattle raids.
He studied his primary school in Khartoum between 1993-1998 and then joined General Paulino Matip’s South Sudan Defense Force (SSDP) becoming a captain and the head of General Matip’s signal team. Madeng was wrongly imprisoned in 1990 for several months before he could be released.
He joined the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), as the South Sudan army was then known, in 2006 after Gen. Paulino Matip signed the Juba Declaration with President Salva Kiir, then President of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) paving way for reunification of the SPLA and SSDF.
Madeng is married to three women including Martha from his home state of Unity. He is a learned military officer whose military success has taken him to Bilpam where he worked as a senior officer at the SSPDF department of Logistics as well as DDR.
He graduated from the University of Juba with bachelors’ decree and also holds a post graduate diploma.
In 2019, he was promoted, from Colonel, by President Salva Kiir who is also the SSPDF commander-in-chief, to the rank of Brigadier General.
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