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Kiir Replaces Garang, Vows Same Path
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Political analysts say Kiir may bring a more collegial style to southern politics. (Reuters)
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NEW
SITE, Sudan, August 2, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) -
Top political and military officials of southern Sudan's former rebel
group have convened in a somber mood and elected Salva Kiir to replace
their leader and Sudanese First Vice President John Garang, who died
over the weekend in a helicopter crash.
"The
SPLM leadership and the SPLA military command affirmed General Salva
Kiir as the chairman of the SPLM and commander in chief of the SPLA,"
the movement said in a statement after their meeting Monday, August 1.
"Therefore
he is the nominee to the position of the first vice president of the
republic...," the statement said, citing the Sudanese interim
national constitution, which was ratified recently, according to
Agence France-Presse (AFP).
According
to the peace agreement signed in January 9 in Kenya, the SPLM leader
will assume the post of Sudan's first vice president and the leader of
the southern Sudan semi-autonomous region.
The
peace deal included giving southerners the right to vote on secession
after a six-year interim period and also shared out Sudan's oil wealth
between north and south roughly equally.
Garang,
who led the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) during
its 21-year rebellion and then into a peace deal with the Khartoum
government earlier this year, died Saturday, July 31, in a helicopter
crash.
Political
analysts say Kiir may bring a more collegial style to southern
politics, whereas Garang was more able to use his local and
international stature to impose his will.
Some
southerners fear Garang's absence could weaken their hand in governing
Africa's largest country, divided between an Arabized Muslim north and
the south, which is a mix of African ethnicities with Christians,
animists and Muslims.
Respect
of Peace
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Relatives and SPLM leaders around Garang’s coffin. (Reuters)
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Vowing
to continue Garang's work, the SPLM/A leadership pledged "its
wholehearted commitment to the letter and spirit of the comprehensive
peace agreement."
It
appealed "to all the Sudanese people to remain calm under this
difficult and trying moment, so that the enemies of peace do not
exploit the situation."
Despite
growing uncertainty over the future of the peace deal that took years
to prepare, Garang's wife Rebecca remained optimistic that the
remaining leaders, known for their wrangles, would at least keep the
dream alive.
"He
has died but his vision is still alive," she told reporters at
New Site, a dusty outpost near the Kenyan-Sudan border.
About
60 meters (yards) from where she sat, were the bodies of Garang and
some of his bodyguards who perished when the Ugandan presidential
helicopter crashed at New Kush, killing everyone on board.
Fellow
former fighters, supporters and relatives gathered in New Site, a
small settlement in the remote bush of southern Sudan, where Garang's
body was laid out in a wooden casket with a flag draped over it on a
bed in a modest room.
Scented
charcoal burned under the bed. Outside, men in green combat fatigues
sat under thorn trees, some holding rifles.
The
SPLM announced five days of mourning starting Tuesday.
Garang’s
death sparked immediate concerns for the agreement as well as for
peaceful resolutions to conflicts in Sudan's troubled western Darfur
region and the restive east of the country.
The
United States dispatched two senior envoys to Sudan Monday in hopes of
keeping the peace process on track.
42
Killed in Riots
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Tens of cars were set ablaze in deadly Khartoum riots. (Reuters)
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Meanwhile,
the death toll of deadly riots which hit Khartoum after the death of
Garang rose Tuesday, August 2, to 42.
A
Sudanese official, who declined to be named, told Reuters that more
than 100 people were still in hospital with injuries from the rioting.
Authorities
imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on the capital following the violence
that erupted when thousands of people, some wielding knives and guns,
took to the streets of Khartoum immediately after Garang's death was
confirmed.
Bursts
of automatic gunfire could be heard and an AFP correspondent saw
several people lying wounded, some possibly dead.
Khartoum
Governor Abdel Halim Al-Mutaafi said on state-run television that the
losses "were tremendous, including tens of cars that were set
ablaze," announcing that the State's Security Committee "has
taken a number of measures, including a 6:00 pm to 6:00 am curfew and
a ban on gatherings, to maintain order in the state."
Sudan
TV also broadcast a statement by the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement
(SPLM/A) which stressed that Garang's death was "an accident,
contrary to rumors giving other reasons to the death," urging
SPLM followers in particular to observe self-restraint.
Within
the same context, residents of the southern town of Juba, which is to
become the capital of the southern region, said angry protesters had
burned and vandalized businesses and property owned by northern
Sudanese Arabs.
Mrs
Garang appealed to the Sudanese to keep order and refused to speculate
over the cause of the accident.
"It
was an accident. It was God's plan that it would take him that day. I
will not blame anyone. His time had come," she said, surrounded
by a dozen sorrowful children.
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