KURMUK, Sudan, 5 August 2005 — Thousands of southern Sudanese turned out yesterday to pay respects to John Garang as the body of their revered guerrilla chief-turned-statesman embarked on the journey to his final resting place.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 people, many in uniforms of Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), lined the dirt airstrip in the remote town of Kurmuk as a small white plane carrying his coffin landed on the first stop of a somber airborne funeral procession through his southern stronghold.
Garang, who was killed in a helicopter crash on July 31, is to buried on Saturday in Juba, the capital of autonomous southern Sudan, at a funeral expected to draw half a million mourners.
Under partly cloudy skies and a strong wind, SPLM/A pallbearers hoisted the flag-draped casket and marched solemnly to a makeshift bier on the field behind a large photograph of Garang, his widow, Rebecca, several of his children and two rows of 10 uniformed ex-rebel fighters.
Apart from brief scattered bursts of cries, the coffin was placed on a mattress under a tent made of white and green plastic sheeting in silence. Some mourners had placed roses near the tent in memory of the man who led their 21-year struggle against the government in Khartoum before sealing a landmark peace deal in January.
Red Cross Says 130 Dead in Riots
Riots that erupted in Sudan following the death of Garang have left 130 people dead, including 111 in Khartoum alone, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday.
“Our latest toll is 130 dead and 402 wounded, including 111 dead and 345 wounded in the capital Khartoum and 13 dead and 20 wounded in Juba and six dead and 37 wounded in Malakal, two towns in the south,” said ICRC press adviser Larena Brander.
She said riots pitting southerners against northerners were ongoing in Khartoum’s suburbs for the fourth consecutive day.
Garang died in a helicopter crash last Saturday less than a month after becoming Sudan’s new first vice president under the terms of the agreement under which southern Sudan will enjoy six years of autonomy before a referendum on secession.
Senior SPLM/A officials from Kurmuk, in the northernmost part of the south where the rebels drove out government forces in 1997, were the first to pass by the coffin on the first leg of the procession that will move to four other towns before his funeral Saturday funeral in Juba.
The ceremony in Kurmuk was expected to last about 45 minutes after which Garang’s casket and traveling mourners will depart for the town of Kauda, site of a 2000 massacre of students and teachers by Khartoum’s troops, where it will remain overnight.
The tour will then continue today when the body will move to Rumbek, which is serving as the temporary capital of autonomous southern Sudan pending the withdrawal of government troops from Juba.
Before arriving in Juba, the procession will go to Yei and finally Bor, the town where Garang was born 60 years ago and where the SPLA/M was created in 1983.
As the coffin left on the plane from the SPLM/A base of New Site, a priest offered prayers and comfort to Rebecca Garang, reading passages from the Bible and praying with ex-rebel fighters.
Father Bahjat Batarseh also urged Garang’s followers to remain united behind his vision for southern Sudan.
“If you are divided you will be destroyed but if you are united you will stand,” he said. “This is the last time John Garang will be in this part of Sudan.”
