Portrait of Col. Joseph Luka Acini. He died while receiving medical treatment in Uganda. | Courtesy

Liberation war veteran Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Acini Luka, who passed away in neighboring Uganda on June 18, was laid to rest Friday.

Col. Acini died after a long battle with lung cancer at Mulago Hospital in Kampala.

Acini – who hails from Magwi County in Eastern Equatoria State – was buried in southern border town of Nimule on June 23.

Mogga Gabriel, the head of Organizing Funeral Committee describes late Acini Joseph funeral as a hardworking person.

“Acini has been a hardworking person, trained as a soldier, got integrated into Wildlife forces as a Lieutenant Colonel, and participated in several Madi community activities such as the cultural leader of the Ma’di elder’s forum in general,” Mogga said in a statement.

– Obituary –

In 1985, Col. Acini had dropped out of Loa Elementary School to join the SPLA – two years after the guerrilla movement was formed.

He was in the Mug-sha-sha battalion where he trained in Ethiopia and was deployed as a radio-propaganda presenter.

At the time, he mobilized Ma’di young men and women to join the SPLM.

Late Acini served in the movement until the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya which ended the decades old bloody Sudanese civil war.

In 2005, he integrated into the Wildlife forces where he served until his death.

He was the leader of the Ma’di Traditional Dance and Elders’ Forum.

Prior to his demise, the Ma’di Community had been preparing to install him as its Paramount Chief to replace Chief Ebele John Alex who was shot dead in July last year.

Since 2013, the Ma’di community lost five traditional leaders to a wave of assassinations and illnesses.

Mogga, a member of the Ma’di Community leadership – who announced the veteran leader’s death – encouraged the community to take in the footsteps of Acini.

“My advice is people should take courage and follow his footstep so that they can become leaders of tomorrow and lead other people in the Madi area.”