Garang, a man of influence

KHARTOUM – John Garang, who led southern Sudanese rebels for 21 years in a war against the Khartoum government, has died in an air crash, only weeks after being sworn in as the country’s No 2 leader in a power-sharing agreement that raised hopes of bringing a lasting peace.

He was 60. The charismatic Garang was seen as key to bringing southerners – a mixed population of Christians and animists – into a government long dominated by northern Muslims.Southerners are to be given a chance to vote on secession in six years, and President Omar el-Bashir wants to keep Sudan unified, and no doubt hoped Garang, who has said secession was never his goal, would be an ally in that campaign.No other figures in the south have Garang’s weight and influence to bring to the table as north and south work out a power-sharing government and try to establish rebel fighters as a force alongside the Sudanese military.Over more than two decades, he dominated the scene in the south, using what critics and admirers alike called his ability “to juggle a stone and an egg”.He held together his often fractious Sudan People’s Liberation Army through force of personality and wheeling and dealing among the south’s multiple tribes.His critics accused him of wielding dictatorial control over the rebel movement.His rebels’ “human rights record is poor because of the lack of accountability”, Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch once said.”That has led to a lot of abuses that have never been punished, including summary executions, disappearances, prolonged arbitrary detentions, corrupt transactions and the taking of food from civilians.”Garang, in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press at his Rumbek headquarters in southern Sudan, dismissed such allegations.”A movement that has lasted 20 years will have its critics,” he said.”Which leader never gets criticised? …Our (human rights) record is available for scrutiny by history.”Garang insisted throughout that his goal was not to break the south away, but to create a secular state where southerners’ rights were respected.Successive Khartoum governments sought to impose Islamic law in Sudan.”Did you ever see a government pray?” Garang – who described himself as an “Episcopalian-stroke-Lutheran” – would often tell his troops, sparking rounds of laughter.”A government never goes to church and it never goes to mosque.”He became the face of the southern Sudanese cause.A Dinka tribesman from a small southern village, he mixed easily with his fighters, joking with them in crowds in the dusty, remote villages of his homelands.Educated in the US, he would also consult with politicians, economists and development experts in capitals around the globe.Sudan’s peace agreement, sealed in January, gave Garang the second most powerful position in government.And when he came to Khartoum to claim it in July, he was welcomed by giant crowds of southerners and northerners, celebrating his presence as a sign that the peace was real.He was sworn in as first vice president on July 9.He was warmly embraced by his longtime enemy, el-Bashir, who called Garang his “brother” – and the government press went from vilifying the former rebel leader to calling him ‘Dr Garang’ in respect almost overnight.Garang has a doctorate in economics from the United States.The settlement also made Garang president of southern Sudan, letting him set up an interim administration there until a referendum in six years’ time on secession.As the peace deal appeared imminent, the articulate former rebel said in a 2003 interview that he hoped to use his nonmilitary skills to turn the “liberation energy” toward development.But he noted at the time that Sudan’s issues would be resolved only with difficulty.”The situation is sufficiently complex that you don’t want to overextend your emotional resources,” he said at the time.”I don’t get easily excited.”The civil war, which began in 1983, left some 2 million people dead from fighting, famine or disease During that time, two of his top commanders, Rick Machar and Kerbino Kunyin, broke away with their forces in the early 1990s.They signed their own peace deals with Khartoum and in some cases fought Garang’s fighters.Still, Garang kept the bulk of the SPLA behind him, in part by seeding his movement with representatives of every tribe in the south – and even many from the north.John Garang de Mabior was born in June 1945 into the Dinka Nilotic tribe in the village of Buk.Education was an immediate priority, and he attended Bussere Intermediate School in nearby Wau.At 18, he left high school to join the first southern rebellion in 1963.He later attended Grinnell College in Iowa, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, after which he returned to Africa with a fellowship to study at Dar es Salaam University, Tanzania.Garang returned to southern Sudan in 1970 and was integrated into the government army two years later when a peace deal was reached.During the next 11 years, Garang attended the US Army infantry officer’s course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and earned his doctorate at Iowa State University.But some southerners, including Garang, felt the peace was doomed and formed a covert group to organise another rebellion.In May 1983, Garang was visiting troops in the south when the army attacked a battalion he’d once commanded.Suddenly the second war was under way, months earlier than the rebels intended, he said.As the most senior officer, Garang assumed leadership.”My background in the military is by force of circumstance,” the articulate rebel leader who read war classics, from Sun Tzu to George Patton.- Nampa-APThe charismatic Garang was seen as key to bringing southerners – a mixed population of Christians and animists – into a government long dominated by northern Muslims.Southerners are to be given a chance to vote on secession in six years, and President Omar el-Bashir wants to keep Sudan unified, and no doubt hoped Garang, who has said secession was never his goal, would be an ally in that campaign.No other figures in the south have Garang’s weight and influence to bring to the table as north and south work out a power-sharing government and try to establish rebel fighters as a force alongside the Sudanese military.Over more than two decades, he dominated the scene in the south, using what critics and admirers alike called his ability “to juggle a stone and an egg”.He held together his often fractious Sudan People’s Liberation Army through force of personality and wheeling and dealing among the south’s multiple tribes.His critics accused him of wielding dictatorial control over the rebel movement.His rebels’ “human rights record is poor because of the lack of accountability”, Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch once said.”That has led to a lot of abuses that have never been punished, including summary executions, disappearances, prolonged arbitrary detentions, corrupt transactions and the taking of food from civilians.”Garang, in a 2003 interview with The Associated Press at his Rumbek headquarters in southern Sudan, dismissed such allegations.”A movement that has lasted 20 years will have its critics,” he said.”Which leader never gets criticised? …Our (human rights) record is available for scrutiny by history.”Garang insisted throughout that his goal was not to break the south away, but to create a secular state where southerners’ rights were respected.Successive Khartoum governments sought to impose Islamic law in Sudan.”Did you ever see a government pray?” Garang – who described himself as an “Episcopalian-stroke-Lutheran” – would often tell his troops, sparking rounds of laughter.”A government never goes to church and it never goes to mosque.”He became the face of the southern Sudanese cause.A Dinka tribesman from a small southern village, he mixed easily with his fighters, joking with them in crowds in the dusty, remote villages of his homelands.Educated in the US, he would also consult with politicians, economists and development experts in capitals around the globe.Sudan’s peace agreement, sealed in January, gave Garang the second most powerful position i
n government.And when he came to Khartoum to claim it in July, he was welcomed by giant crowds of southerners and northerners, celebrating his presence as a sign that the peace was real.He was sworn in as first vice president on July 9.He was warmly embraced by his longtime enemy, el-Bashir, who called Garang his “brother” – and the government press went from vilifying the former rebel leader to calling him ‘Dr Garang’ in respect almost overnight.Garang has a doctorate in economics from the United States.The settlement also made Garang president of southern Sudan, letting him set up an interim administration there until a referendum in six years’ time on secession.As the peace deal appeared imminent, the articulate former rebel said in a 2003 interview that he hoped to use his nonmilitary skills to turn the “liberation energy” toward development.But he noted at the time that Sudan’s issues would be resolved only with difficulty.”The situation is sufficiently complex that you don’t want to overextend your emotional resources,” he said at the time.”I don’t get easily excited.”The civil war, which began in 1983, left some 2 million people dead from fighting, famine or disease During that time, two of his top commanders, Rick Machar and Kerbino Kunyin, broke away with their forces in the early 1990s.They signed their own peace deals with Khartoum and in some cases fought Garang’s fighters.Still, Garang kept the bulk of the SPLA behind him, in part by seeding his movement with representatives of every tribe in the south – and even many from the north.John Garang de Mabior was born in June 1945 into the Dinka Nilotic tribe in the village of Buk.Education was an immediate priority, and he attended Bussere Intermediate School in nearby Wau.At 18, he left high school to join the first southern rebellion in 1963.He later attended Grinnell College in Iowa, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, after which he returned to Africa with a fellowship to study at Dar es Salaam University, Tanzania.Garang returned to southern Sudan in 1970 and was integrated into the government army two years later when a peace deal was reached.During the next 11 years, Garang attended the US Army infantry officer’s course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and earned his doctorate at Iowa State University.But some southerners, including Garang, felt the peace was doomed and formed a covert group to organise another rebellion.In May 1983, Garang was visiting troops in the south when the army attacked a battalion he’d once commanded.Suddenly the second war was under way, months earlier than the rebels intended, he said.As the most senior officer, Garang assumed leadership.”My background in the military is by force of circumstance,” the articulate rebel leader who read war classics, from Sun Tzu to George Patton.- Nampa-AP