Photo Credit: UN Department of Public Information
08/01/2005

The death of Sudan’s First Vice President John Garang, the rebel leader turned peacemaker, will test efforts to solidify peace in the south and end fighting in Darfur, but the stability of Sudan depends on surmounting new challenges.

The government of Sudan, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, which Dr. Garang led, and other groups in southern Sudan must recommit to peace in order to complete the process that John Garang had begun.

“It is time for all parties to redouble their commitment to peace,” said Ken Bacon, the president of Refugees International. “That is the best way to honor John Garang’s legacy and the best gift they can give the people of Sudan.”

John Garang died in a helicopter crash in south Sudan near the Ugandan border over the weekend. All evidence suggests that the helicopter, which belonged to Uganda’s president, crashed because of bad weather. Yet news of the crash touched off violent riots in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, and other areas.

On July 9, Dr. Garang had joined the government in Khartoum, his enemy for 21 years of civil war, under the terms of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That pact, signed on January 9, ended a 21-year civil war that led to the deaths of some two million people and displaced nearly five million from their homes in south Sudan. The agreement, negotiated with considerable help from the United States, Kenya and other nations, ended Africa’s longest running civil war and also set the stage for ending another extremely destructive conflict in the Darfur region in western Sudan.

In the months before his death, Dr. Garang, who was educated in the U.S. and held a doctorate degree from Iowa State University, complained bitterly about the lack of international financial support for development in south Sudan, a vast agricultural area devastated by two decades of war. The presence of oil in the area should provide some resources for development, but donors must honor pledges of support as well.

In recent weeks United Nations and other officials had expressed optimism that Dr. Garang’s presence in the “Unity Government” in Khartoum had created a government determination to end the two and half year civil war in Darfur, where up to 400,000 people have died of war-related causes and more than two million have been displaced. It is important that peace talks continue, despite John Garang’s death.

The Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM) announced that Dr. Garang’s deputy, Salva Kiir Mayardit, will succeed him. He is also expected to take over his post as first vice president in Khartoum. However, Salva Kiir may face immediate challenges. Many groups in southern Sudan chafed under Dr. Garang’s tough rule and the SPLM did not represent all factions in the south. There could be fighting for influence among these groups. On the other hand, Salva Kiir has an opportunity to accelerate the move to democracy in the south and to reach out to groups that currently feel excluded.