AFRICA/SUDAN - Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives killed

Juba (Agenzia Fides) - The Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan, Jimmy Lemi Milla, was killed in his office in Juba, the capital of the new state of Southern Sudan. A bodyguard was also killed. According to a spokesman of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (the armed wing of the SPLM, the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, which governs the region), the double murder may have been committed by the Minister's driver, who died in turn, perhaps killing himself. The motive for the crime would therefore be “personal reasons”.
All the victims belonged to the same ethnic group, the Bari. Milla was a former member of the National Congress Party (NCP), the political group of the Sudanese President Omar-el Bashir, but had joined the SPLM after the peace accords in 2005, which ended the civil war and created the semi-autonomous provisional government of South Sudan. The murder happened just after the announcement of official results of the independence referendum from 9 to 15 January, which saw a clear victory for the Yes vote (see Fides 8/02/2011). The independence of Southern Sudan will be declared officially in July. (LM) (Agenzia Fides 9/2/2011)