An Eastern Equatoria five-man team has been tasked with arranging to return the remains of Fr. Leopold Anywar to the state and honour him with a dignified reburial.
Fr. Anywar was killed by the Uganda Armed Forces in 1968 and buried at Kitgum Catholic cemetery.Agriculture State minister Jerome Gama Surur, who chairs the committee, told Emmanuel Radio that the team contacted the Ugandan authorities and Gulu Catholic Diocese to start preparations to bring Fr. Anywar’s remains to Magwi.
Mr. Surur said the state team held meetings with the Ugandan minister for foreign affairs Henry Okelo Oryem and the representatives of the Archbishop of Gulu.
The minister said the delegation and the Ugandan authorities reached a common understanding to give a decent burial to the deceased priest back home at Magwi County.
The return of the remains of Fr. Anywar follows a similar process for Fr. Saturnino Ohure, whose remains were brought from Uganda and reburied at a shrine in Torit in August 2009.
Mr. Surur said Fr. Anywar was among South Sudanese advocating for freedom.
His killing followed a crackdown by combined forces from Uganda and Sudan on the Anyanya One fighters and their collaborators in Uganda.
The remains of the slain priest should be returned to Eastern Equatoria before the independence of South Sudan.