The late Lopirigo Amb. Angelo Voga has been described as an instrumental leader who played a key role in uniting his people/Courtesy photo.

The Ma’di community in South Sudan are mourning the death of their paramount chief locally known as the Lopirigo who passed on in a Kampala hospital at the age of 87.

Local officials say Chief Angelo Voga Morgan succumbed to coronavirus on June 21.

He had served previously as Sudan’s ambassador to Zimbabwe.

“Lopirigo Ambassador Angelo Voga died in Kampala at Doctors Hospital,” Alira William, the chief of Nimule Payam in Magwi County confirmed the demise of the Ma’di supreme leader.

“He was admitted on date 17 June 2021, he died on June 21st, the cause of his death is severe Covid-19 pneumonia, he died at the age of 87,” chief Alira added.

The late chief has been described by hose who know him as an instrumental leader who played a key role in uniting his people.

“He was a respectful leader and when they elected him as the Lopirigo, a leader of the community, he was on the top of the issues of the community addressing their issues,” Emilio Igga, the former commissioner of Magwi County and defunct Pageri County, eulogized.

“It is really very sad that we lost him while still in refuge and this is peace time, we expected that he would come home to reconstruct the home together and now he is gone.”

Mr. Igga says the late Amb. Voga “taught people how to live together.”

Ma'di community mourns death of their supreme leader, Lopirigo Amb. Angelo Voga pic.twitter.com/SAFbMGIUVP

— Eye Radio (@EyeRadioJuba) June 23, 2021

The Ma’di leaders say they are in discussion with the Ugandan government to allow them return the body of their late leader for burial in his ancestral home.

The late Ma’di supreme leader had been living in Uganda after the 2016 conflict forced thousands of people, mostly from the Greater Equatoria region into refugee camps in Uganda.