NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — A South Sudan bishop known in the Anglican Communion as a “lost bishop” because he went missing in the late 1980s during his country’s war against Sudan has died.
The Very Rev. Nathaniel Garang, a retired bishop of Bor, died Feb. 24 while receiving treatment in Nairobi, where he has been since 2024. He was 86. The Diocese of Bor is located along the White Nile, about 200 kilometers north of South Sudan’s capital, Juba.
Sudan came apart in nearly continuous fighting from the early 1970s until the early 2000s, in a war that began in resistance to government policies that included forced Islamization for the southern region, where many inhabitants are Christian or followers of African traditional religions.
Garang spent much of the conflict among the poorest residents, preaching hope, while traversing Africa seeking peace and protection for southern Sudan. He also brought the realities of the war to the international community, traveling to Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
He was consecrated the bishop of Bor in 1984, but constant attacks m …