KHARTOUM/NEW SITE, Sudan, 3 August 2005 — Northern and southern Sudanese clashed in Khartoum yesterday in a second day of violence sparked by the death of former rebel leader John Garang who helped end two decades of war in Africa’s largest country.
The latest violence, in a shantytown on the south side of Khartoum, came after at least 36 people died in Monday’s riots.
Witnesses said southerners again attacked northerners yesterday. Authorities sent in police and helicopters.
In the country’s south, grieving relatives and supporters of Garang — who led their war against the north since 1983 — paid respects to him around a simple bed in a bush town.
On the international stage, diplomatic moves began to ensure the January peace deal Garang’s former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) struck with the government of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir would not unravel. Two senior US envoys were on their way to Sudan to encourage a smooth transition in SPLM to new leader Salva Kiir.
A delegation from Khartoum also went south to pay respects. And continental heavyweight South Africa sent Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to Sudan, with plans to travel to the south as well as Khartoum.
Garang, who just three weeks ago became Sudan’s vice president in a peace deal hailed as a rare success for the continent, died when a Ugandan helicopter he was traveling in went down in bad weather at the weekend. There has been no suggestion of foul play.
Fellow ex-fighters gathered in New Site, a small settlement in the remote bush of southern Sudan, where Garang’s body was laid in a wooden casket with a flag. Scented charcoal burned in the modest room where the casket rested.
The SPLM announced five days of mourning and said Garang would be buried in their regional seat Juba on Saturday after his body was taken to other towns in the region for mourning.
“The burial of our great leader John Garang will be in Juba on Saturday, Aug. 6, 2005 at noon,” said a senior SPLM official Pagan Amun. “He died in office and the choice of Juba is determined by his stature.”
