KHARTOUM, 11 August 2005 — Salva Kiir, successor to the late southern Sudanese leader John Garang, vowed yesterday to carry on his peace legacy as he arrived in Khartoum ahead of being sworn in as the country’s vice president. “I’m happy to be in Khartoum after 22 years (away),” Kiir told reporters after he flew in from southern Sudan with security tight in the capital.
“Despite the fact that we have lost our hero, the man who brought peace, Dr. Garang, we will continue with the same vision, with the same objective and we will implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement.” He was referring to the peace deal signed with the Khartoum government in January that ended 21 years of north-south war in Sudan, the longest running in Africa which cost two million lives.
Kiir urged Sudanese people not to resort to violence after deadly rioting shook Khartoum and several towns in south Sudan following Garang’s death on July 30 in a helicopter crash. “I’m appealing to all the people of Sudan, the people from southern Sudan in particular to remain calm and not to repeat all what has happened a few days ago,” he said.
Kiir was greeted by Sudan’s Second Vice President Osman Ali Taha as he stepped out of the plane after flying in from Rumbek in south Sudan. Some 200 Sudanese dignitaries, including officials from Kiir’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the ruling National Congress Party later shook hands with him inside the airport.
Opposition figures and religious leaders as well as community leaders from the north and south were among Kiir’s welcoming party.
The authorities stepped up security in the capital and its suburbs ahead of the visit, deploying additional armed police and soldiers on the streets, which witnessed deadly riots in the wake of Garang’s death.
Army troops could be seen lining the main avenue from downtown Khartoum all the way to the airport, two miles away. There were no posters of Kiir on the streets or public buildings as was the case with the high-profile return to Khartoum of his predecessor on July 8, when a crowd of over a million people showed up at the city’s main square to welcome Garang.
Kiir is due to be sworn as first vice president at a brief ceremony in Khartoum today, replacing the charismatic Garang who died only three weeks into the job.
One of the first challenges for Kiir, the former southern rebel military chief, will be to form a national unity government with former arch-foe President Omar Bashir — a process interrupted by Garang’s death.
The reconciliation cabinet and an autonomous government in south Sudan were due to be installed by Aug. 9, in line with the January peace deal.
“The key to implementing the peace deal John Garang negotiated is for the SPLM to hold together,” John Prendergast of the International Crisis Group said in a report. “If the movement unravels, the peace agreement will as well.”
