The former information minister for South Sudan's Western Bahr el Ghazal State, Alfred Derick Uya, passed on in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Tuesday.

A close family member, Cosmus Elias told Radio Tamazuj that the 59-year-old died after he developed severe illness and was rushed to a hospital where he went into a coma, and later passed on. 

"Actually, I got the information on Tuesday that he was admitted in the hospital and he went into a coma until he died at around 6 PM,” said Elias. "The cause of death is a kidney failure, and then there was bleeding in the brain." 

Elias said burial plans are underway.

"Right now, we are still in negotiation on the process of whether we should bring him or bury him in Khartoum. We are still not sure," he added. 

Uya served as a state minister of information, culture, and communication in 2012, after which he was appointed to head the state Arts and Cultures Commission in 2015. 

He was also a pioneer and founding member of the Kwoto, a cultural group of South Sudanese musicians, dancers, and actors in the 1990s in Khartoum.