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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Sudan to bury former rebel leader Garang RUMBEK, Sudan, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Former Sudanese rebel leader John Garang was due to be buried on Saturday, but uncertainty over the cause of his death after a deal to end Africa's longest civil war cast a shadow over the funeral. Garang's death in a helicopter crash just three weeks after being sworn in as Sudan's vice-president triggered angry riots in the capital Khartoum that left scores of people dead and fed fears the agreement to end 21 years of war would fail. His sudden death shocked former guerrilla and close ally Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, who said on Friday "an external factor" may have caused his presidential helicopter to slam into a remote mountainside with Garang on board. An independent, international inquiry will be launched to determine the cause of the crash in southern Sudan, Garang's party said. Garang was due to be buried in the long-time southern capital Juba, a strategic government garrison that his rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) fought hard for but failed to seize during its long war. "He was our beloved leader, our father. I fear we will go back to war without him," said Martin Lual, a 27-year-old SPLA soldier. Sudan's civil war began with an army mutiny in 1983 - the same year the Arabic-speaking Islamist Khartoum government tried to impose Sharia law on the mainly animist and Christian south. |
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