Sudanese Mourn the Loss of Their First Vice President, Contemplate Future

JUBA, Sudan — The body of John Garang was flown from town to town in southern Sudan yesterday for his people to pay last respects to their popular leader before his burial.But his final resting place, Juba, is still recovering from a rampage against Muslim Arabs by ethnic Africans convinced Garang was murdered.A charred copy of the Koran lay in the dust on an unpaved road of Juba’s central business district yesterday, a sign of how southerners took out their anger on symbols of the mostly Muslim Arab north.Children darted through shattered doors to grab goods from abandoned shops owned by Arabs, who dominate Juba’s business sector.An entire street lined with shops was ravaged — one side charred concrete stores, the other a row of flattened corrugated tin shacks. Other Arab homes outside the Konyo Konyo district were wrecked as well.People “are saying the Arabs are the ones who killed Garang,” Jane Martin, 30, whispered as she observed the scene. Garang died in a helicopter crash Saturday that the Sudanese government and Garang’s rebel movement say was an accident.Hundreds of Arabs have fled Juba, the south’s impoverished largest city, with a population of 350,000. The city had some 1,200 Arab residents before the riot — a community that had been growing as more moved in, optimistic about a January peace treaty and Garang’s June 9 inauguration as vice president in the Khartoum government.A 45-year-old Arab among dozens at the airport awaiting a flight out, Adel Ismail, said he was sheltered and fed by an African woman when rioters attacked his shop, stole his goods and set it on fire.“I ran for a long time before this woman took me in for protection. She said they were doing bad things,” he said. “She gave me local food. … I don’t even know her name.” He said soldiers escorted him to the airport.Mr. Ismail said Garang’s death changed everything in Sudan.”It may be more difficult to implement the peace agreement following his death,” he said. “But Sudan has no other option.”More than 130 people were killed this week in riots in Khartoum, the capital, and the southern cities of Juba and Malakal, according to the Sudanese Red Crescent.Juba is supposed to be a symbol of the new Sudan and the cooperation between the central government and Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which fought Khartoum’s domination for 21 years.A town with few paved roads and almost no electricity or water, Juba was a major front in the war. The site of a base for northern troops, it was surrounded by Garang’s fighters, who often besieged it.But under the peace deal, it is to become the capital of an autonomous southern region — where most of the population is Christian or animist — with the military reducing its presence and former rebel fighters moving in as a parallel force.Garang is to be buried in Juba on Saturday, with President al-Bashir, his longtime enemy turned peace partner, in attendance. Hundreds of SPLM fighters and dozens of troops from the elite presidential guards came to Juba yesterday to provide security.Garang’s body was flown yesterday from the southern base of New Site, where his family had been receiving condolences,to other towns so his many supporters could bid farewell. The mournful tour was to visit key towns, including Rumbek and Bor, Garang’s birthplace, before reaching Juba.The government and SPLM have been trying to show the peace process will move ahead as planned. Mr. al-Bashir yesterday endorsed new SPLM leader Salva Kiir Mayardit, paving the way for him to take over in Garang’s posts as first vice president and president of southern Sudan.An international team is being assembled to investigate Garang’s death, with the participation of the government, the SPLM, the United Nations, Uganda, and Kenya. The SPLM has also asked for American and British participation.But Garang’s death — only three weeks after he was made vice president — revived the deep mistrust many southerners felt for the Arab-dominated government. Many spoke of a Khartoum plot to kill Garang to scuttle a peace deal that allows the south to hold a referendum in six years on whether to secede from the north.If the south broke away, it would deny the north access to lucrative oil deposits and the most fertile land in the country. Garang was a leading proponent of remaining part of Sudan, preferring autonomy and power-sharing over secession.

Sudanese Mourn the Loss of Their First Vice President, Contemplate Future

Sudanese Mourn the Loss of Their First Vice President, Contemplate Future

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