Politics Sudanese Rebel Leader Dies

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taken from the New York Times:
August 2, 2005
Death of Sudan Rebel Leader Imperils Fragile Hope for Peace
By MARC LACEY
NEW SITE, Sudan, Aug. 1 - With Sudan's confirmation on Monday that the rebel leader John Garang had died in a helicopter crash, this country's fragile peace plunged into the unknown. And angry southerners rioted in the capital, accusing the government of orchestrating his death just three weeks after he was selected as vice president.

Demonstrators cried, "Murderers! Murderers!" as they burned cars, threw stones, and in some cases physically attacked Arabs in the capital, Khartoum.

Meanwhile, with Mr. Garang's body lying in the next hut, southern rebels huddled in this remote wilderness outpost on Monday night, desperately working to salvage the historic peace agreement that their fallen leader struck with the Sudanese government this year.

A Ugandan military helicopter that had been ferrying Mr. Garang from a meeting with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda to this rebel command center crashed in the hilly terrain south of here on Saturday night. Mr. Garang's six-man security detail and a crew of seven also died. Sudanese and Ugandan authorities blamed inclement weather for the crash and ruled out foul play.

Mr. Garang's wife, Rebecca, took to the radio to try to calm her countrymen. "It is the body who has gone," she said. "His spirit, his vision, his program, we're going to implement them."

Mr. Garang, 60, had been leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army for the past 21 years, ruling with a quick wit, ferocious temper and longing to see the long-suffering people of southern Sudan experience a better life.

The sobbing and anger that broke out all across Sudan on Monday was in marked contrast to the jubilation displayed on July 9, when Mr. Garang was swarmed by enthusiastic crowds as he was sworn in as vice president. Mr. Garang became the second in command to President Omar al-Bashir, the man who the rebels had long tried to topple. As they merged into one government, hopes were high for an end to a generation of war. Even beyond that, the agreement was also seen as critical to reaching peace in Sudan's troubled western province, Darfur.

"At that time it was such a moment of hope," said the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. "Here is a man who had lived and fought for peace and one united Sudan, and just as he was on the verge of achieving what he has lived and fought for, he is taken away from us."

On the face of things there was an orderly succession in place: just two weeks before his death, Mr. Garang chose a senior military commander, Salva Kiir Mayardit, as his deputy.

But Mr. Garang, even with his long experience at the helm of the rebel command, had struggled to keep southerners together. Mr. Kiir, who on Monday was selected as the commander in chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and as Mr. Garang's replacement as national vice president, was expected to encounter the same challenges.

"I call upon all members of the S.P.L.M. and the entire Sudanese nation to remain calm and vigilant," Mr. Kiir, a tall bearded man, said Monday morning in Nairobi, Kenya, shock still evident on his face.

In a statement, Mr. Kiir and other leaders lamented the loss of a "beloved leader" and called on Mr. Garang's backers "to remain calm under these difficult and trying moments so that the enemies of peace do not exploit the situation."

John Garang de Mabior, a Dinka tribesman, was born in June 1945 to a Christian family in southern Sudan. He earned a degree in economics from Grinnell College in Iowa in 1969. Mr. Garang returned to Africa, but in 1981 finished a doctorate in economics at Iowa State University.

He joined the Anya Anya rebellion against the government in 1970, and later was taken into the national army as part of a peace agreement. As a Sudanese officer, he received training at the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga.

At the beginning of the 1980's he was at the forefront of a wave of discontent in the mostly Christian and animist south with the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, leading to outright civil war when the government declared Islamic law in 1983. He mutinied along with the army battalion he commanded, and for more than 20 years led the rebel movement, conducting a guerrilla war against the government that would take more than two million lives through fighting, disease and starvation by its end in January 2005.


Divided by clan and frustrated by the slow pace of peace and development, southerners have shown displeasure at times with Mr. Garang's leadership. Mr. Kiir helped convene a meeting of the rebel command in November to urge Mr. Garang to be a more inclusive leader.

Although he is a veteran commander, Mr. Kiir lacks his predecessor's political experience and broad contacts overseas. Mr. Garang visited Washington many times and was on a first-name basis with presidents, secretaries of state and members of Congress.

Unlike Mr. Garang, Mr. Kiir is much more open about his desire for two Sudans, one north and one south. He also sheds the diplomatic niceties that Mr. Garang had adopted.

In a recent interview with a South African newspaper, he said, "It would not be our choice, but if the government violates the comprehensive peace agreement, we are ready to go back to war."

Mr. Garang was credited with championing the rights of some of the most destitute people on earth. Southern Sudan is without paved roads. Children who do go to school are often taught at a blackboard propped up against a tree. Diseases wiped out in other places still thrive here.

The religious dimension to the conflict captured the attention of many Christian congregations in the United States, leading to a wave of American sympathy for the rebellion. But many of his supporters glossed over Mr. Garang's misdeeds. His rebel movement committed many human rights violations over the years, and opponents of Mr. Garang often disappeared and were presumed dead.

The Bush administration played an important behind-the-scenes role in shepherding the peace effort forward in recent years, leaning on both government officials and Mr. Garang to compromise.

Condolence calls came into rebel headquarters from diplomats and leaders from around the world. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed condolences on the death of Mr. Garang in a telephone call to Mrs. Garang, and she dispatched two top envoys to encourage the Sudanese "to maintain momentum" on implementing the peace accord between north and south and in pursuing a settlement on Darfur.

Funeral plans were still under discussion, but a Catholic bishop held a memorial service here on Monday morning in which Mr. Garang's body was enveloped in a flag. It was a design that Mr. Garang and his deputies had chosen and it signified what they called the New Sudan.

Reuben Kyama contributed reporting from Nairobi for this article, and Steven R. Weisman from Washington.
 
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