|
Deadly riots erupt in Sudan after Garang death
By Khaled Abdel-Aziz 28 minutes ago KHARTOUM (Reuters) - At least 24 people were killed in Khartoum on Monday in riots sparked by the death of John Garang, who led Sudan's southern rebels for two decades before making peace and joining the government he fought.
Garang, a key figure in a January peace deal hailed a rare success story for
Africa, became the first vice president on July 9. He died over the weekend
after the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was traveling in went down in bad
weather.
His former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), moving quickly to fill the vacuum, on Monday evening named Garang's deputy Salva Kiir as his successor and said it expected him to be sworn in as Sudan's first vice president in two weeks. The United States said it dispatched two top diplomats to encourage a smooth transition in the southern leadership and ensure the country's peace process continued. "We call on all parties to work toward Dr. Garang's vision of a unified, prosperous and peaceful Sudan," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement. Garang was "a man of great intellect and energy," she said. But as news of his death spread, thousands of his southern Sudanese supporters who had greeted a triumphant Garang when he became first vice president in July, took to the streets of Khartoum, wielding knives and bars, looting shops, starting fires and clashing with police. Two police officers said 24 people, including police, were killed in the rioting. A Khartoum resident earlier said two people had been killed in his street. "They (southerners) are beating anybody they see who looks like they are Arab," Swayd Abdullah, a student, told Reuters. "People have been running all over the streets. The policemen are taking people from the streets. There is fire and smoke," a Reuters TV witness said. The rioting was some of the worst in the Sudanese capital in recent years. The Khartoum governor announced a curfew from 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) until 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) in the capital. Members of the SPLM and the government in Khartoum -- bitter enemies during the 21-year conflict -- both promised to maintain the peace agreement Garang helped bring about. ACCORD INTACT Garang's death stunned the region, where Sudan's neighbors helped negotiate an end to the continent's longest civil war. "It's shocking -- the loss of a visionary leader," Kenya's Lieutenant General Lazarus Sumbeiywo, who was the chief mediator in the Sudan peace talks, told Reuters. Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expressed confidence the power-sharing peace accord would remain intact. "We are confident that the peace agreement will proceed as it was planned," he said in a televised statement. At a news conference in Nairobi, SPLM members wept in grief. "Sudan has lost its loved son Dr. John Garang," said Kiir. "We want to assure everyone that the leadership and all cadres of the SPLM/SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) will remain united and strive to faithfully implement the comprehensive peace agreement." The SPLM leadership later met in New Site in southern Sudan for crisis talks, naming Kiir as Garang's replacement. Kiir, deputy chairman of the SPLM/SPLA high command since 1997 and seen as Garang's natural successor, played a major role in negotiating the early stages of the north-south peace deal. "There has been no dissent or disagreement, he has got the support of the entire SPLM," SPLM's senior official Pagan Amun told reporters. Two senior U.S. diplomats -- Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Connie Newman and U.S. special envoy to Sudan Roger Winter -- traveled to Sudan to meet leaders in the south and in Khartoum, the State Department said. BAD WEATHER Garang had left Uganda by helicopter late on Saturday to return to Sudan after talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Various sources in Uganda and Sudan said it appeared his helicopter ran into bad weather, although there was also speculation it had run out of fuel. The helicopter came down near the remote, mountainous border region, with conflicting reports as to which side it fell on. Six of Garang's companions and a crew of seven also died in the crash near the Sudan-Uganda border, Khartoum said on Monday, though a member of the southern Sudan leadership council said 17 bodies were recovered. "We are not ruling out anything. We have asked Uganda's aviation authority to look at the flight recorder," Deng Alor, a member of the SPLM's leadership council, told Reuters. More than a million Sudanese came out to salute Garang when he was sworn in as first vice president on July 9 and signed with his old enemy al-Bashir a new interim constitution. Many had hoped Garang would help achieve peace in Sudan's still ongoing conflict in Darfur in the west. And he was critical to the success of the north-south peace process. The southern civil war started in 1983 when the Islamist Khartoum government tried to impose Islamic sharia law on the mainly Christian and animist south. Two million people died in the conflict, mainly through hunger and disease. Garang proved an adept politician as he allied himself with communists, courted U.S. Christian groups and juggled tribal rivalries to hold power even amid fierce infighting. (Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in London; Tom Perry, Amil Khan and Jonathan Wright in Cairo; Daniel Wallis in Kampala; Katie Nguyen, Andrew Cawthorne, Bryson Hull and Wangui Kanina in Nairobi; Saul Hudson in Washington) The Mulindwas Communication Group "With Yoweri Museveni, Uganda is in anarchy" Groupe de communication Mulindwas "avec Yoweri Museveni, l'Ouganda est dans l'anarchie" |
_______________________________________________ Ugandanet mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet % UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
