[Ugnet] The coward Museveni dodges Garang's funeral..listen to the filmsy excuse..read on

[Matek Opoko]

Why Museveni didn’t bury Sudan’s Garang

GRACE MATSIKO & SOLOMON MUYITA

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni stayed away from the Saturday funeral of Sudan Vice President John Garang because he was totally devastated. After viewing Garang's body at Yei on Friday, the President returned to Uganda the same day. He did not join other presidents at the funeral service in Juba. The Minister of Information, Dr Nsaba Buturo told Daily Monitor yesterday that Museveni failed to attend the burial because he was "totally devastated". "So he thought it wise for him not to attend the burial. What he did (paying last respects) was enough," Buturo said. "Imagine a situation where you have just been with someone, given him your helicopter and manpower, then he just perishes like that. The President is also thinking that supposing that happened to him. He has not yet come to terms with the loss," Buturo said. HELLO: President Museveni waves to Arua town residents as he returned from Yei in Sudan were viewed the body of the fallen First Vice President of Sudan, Dr John Garang. Museveni did not attend the burial in Juba. See story on Page 4. PPU photo Museveni told mourners in Yei on Friday, where he paid his last respects to the former rebel leader, that the helicopter crash in which Garang was killed might have been due to other causes. "Some people say accident, it may be an accident, it may be something else," Museveni told mourners. The comments raised eyebrows and contradicted official explanations of the crash. Sudan angered His comments irked the Sudanese government, diplomats and others in Sudan where there has been fierce speculation that Garang was assassinated. The Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Service, Mr Henry Muganwa Kajura, represented Museveni at the funeral service. South African President Thabo Mbeki, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Sudanese Field Marshal Omar Bashir, Ethiopian Prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and the former Kenyan President, Mr Daniel arap Moi, attended. In a message he handed to the Sudan, Uganda said the people of both countries have suffered considerably under the terrorist activities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). "It is our hope and expectation that together we can eliminate the scourge of terrorism so that the two people can live peacefully together," a Ugandan government statement read in part. Anger over Garang's death and conspiracy theories are blamed for much of the deadly violence in Khartoum and Juba that erupted after news of the fatal helicopter crash broke. SPOKESMAN: Dr Buturo The UN special envoy to Sudan Jan Prank told reporters in Juba on Saturday ahead of Garang's funeral that there was no reason to think the crash was anything other than an accident due to poor weather, darkness and possible pilot error. South Sudanese, who are convinced that the crash was no accident, looted and vandalised businesses and property owned by northern Arabs. More than 110 people died in the capital alone. The violence also extended to towns in the south, including the capital Juba, where rioters targeted northern Arab traders, forcing hundreds to flee to Khartoum. During the service at the church in Juba where huge tents were erected in the compound to accommodate the mourners, Garang's widow Rebecca, warned people who wanted to take advantage of her husband's departure to divert the Southern Sudanese political struggle. "The legacy of Dr. Garang was to fight for the rights of women and the children," Rebecca said, "If they are mistreated I will be a lioness." Rebecca said: "What I want to tell you today is leaders come and go but what is important what leader have you left behind". She said she had hope in her late husband's successor, Salva Kiir and Bashir to continue the peace process. Tribute to helpers Mr Peter Mabior, Garang's son who was dressed in military uniform and stood at his mother's side, in a moving speech named Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania as some of the countries that helped his departed father to fight for the southerners. Hundreds of mourners, who were barred from entering the church compound, crashed through the metallic barriers amid chaos and wailing. None of the presidents and foreign dignitaries was allowed to reach the graveside near the parliamentary building in Juba for fear of the commotion. Most diplomats rushed to the airport immediately Garang's cortege left the All Saints Church compound for fear of an eruption of violence by the charged crowd of mourners, who were prevented from attending the service. Garang's successor Salva Kiir said his government in Southern Sudan and that of Khartoum, which he is part, will conduct "full investigations" into the violence that claimed over 100 people after Garang was pronounced dead. Meanwhile, Salva Kiir Mayardit, the First Vice-President of Sudan and the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has appointed Riek Machar as his deputy in both the SPLM and Southern Sudan region. The Al-Ittihadi (Democratic Unionist Party) website reported the appointment. Machar belongs to the Nuer ethnic community, the second largest tribe, in Southern Sudan, after the Dinka tribe, which is the tribe of the late Garang and his successor. Last month before his death, Garang appointed Riek Machar as supervisor of Western Equatoria State. Machar had disassociated himself from Garang in 1991, and signed a peace agreement with Khartoum in 1997, and was appointed assistant to President Omar al-Bashir. Machar later resigned from his position and rejoined Garang as his deputy. Kiir was expected to be sworn in today. Additional reporting by Jane Nafula

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