The death of Vice President John Garang, southern Sudan's charismatic ex-rebel leader, has caused immediate fears of a possible collapse of the still fragile north-south peace process.  

Leader's death induces peace concern

Some southerners fear Garang's demise could weaken their hand in governing the vast country, divided between an Arabised Muslim north and a south that is a mix of African ethnicities with Christians, animists and Muslims.

"What a lot of southerners will be worried about is that the old (Khartoum) government will not adhere to the principles of the (peace) agreement," said Sudan writer Douglas Johnson.

Whereas the influential Brussels-based think-tank International Crisis Group (ICG) feared that Monday's rioting and looting "threaten to further destabilize the situation if not brought under control."

"Calm and tolerance needed to be promoted by all sides to help salvage this dangerous moment," the ICG said, adding that the international community now must strongly support the SPLM/A at this critical time for it.

Garang was killed in a helicopter crash near Uganda's border with Sudan on Saturday. He was trying to get back to his base in southern Sudan from a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. The MI-72 helicopter belonging to the Ugandan government came down, apparently because of a lack of fuel, in bad weather.

Garang's SPLM fought against successive governments in the north for more than two decades, demanding greater autonomy for the animist and Christian south from the Khartoum government.

He returned to Khartoum last July after a landmark north-south peace deal that saw him take up the post of first vice president in a national unity government.

Garang had always maintained that the south of Sudan should remain politically joined to the north.

In the south, his policy met with popular opposition, but it found support among northern rebel movements still fighting the Khartoum government.

From Eritrea, Salah Barqueen, a member of a rebel group known as the Beja Congress that has recently assaulted Sudan military outposts, described Garang's death as "a big sorrow -- not just for the southerners, but for all Sudanese people who are seeking a justified and comprehensive peace."

ICG special advisor, John Prendergast, said Garang's death could also expose serious internal "schisms" within the SPLM, which Garang led for 22 years.

"Within the SPLM/A, there is a long history of divisions, and unless they can thrash out their differences quickly, Garang's death has the potential to create more turmoil," he said.

Authorities vows to maintain stability

Members of the SPLM/A and the government in Khartoum -- bitter enemies during the conflict -- have however, both promised to maintain the power-sharing peace agreement Garang helped bring about.

Garang's political wing, SPLM/A, has hastily met to manage the "national crisis that has befallen us" and called for calm.

The mourning SPLM/A leaders moved swiftly to fill the vacuum left by the weekend death of Garang, choosing Salva Kiir Mayardit, Garang's close ally to succeed him as leader of the ex-rebels and as their representative in the Sudanese presidency. Kiir is a man held to have a more secessionist agenda for the south of Sudan than Garang did.

Garang's wife Rebecca has called for calm and said she was confident the SPLM leadership has picked Kiir to replace her husband.

"I think the leadership will support him and so do I. It is just my husband who has died. His vision is still alive," said Rebecca.

She said she was not going to apportion blame on Garang's death, adding she was in communication with world leaders including Ugandan President Museveni and was waiting to take a call from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Internal riots

The call for calm and order from the SPLM/A, the Khartoum government and international supporters of the Sudanese peace process was however not heard by shocked citizens.

Thousands of South Sudanese living in Khartoum Monday took to the streets to cry out their outrage. Most did not believe that Garang's death had been caused by an accident.

The crowd was reported to have attacked northerners "looking like Arabs", looting shops in the city center and some shooting in the air. At least 24 persons have died in the riots and many more are reported wounded.

Sudanese authorities have responded to the sudden riot with a massive police presence. A curfew was announced late Monday and the main bridge over the Nile River has been closed.

Violence has however continued and the police only slowly is gaining control over the angry crowds and reports from the Sudanese capital indicated that the mood is far from calm.

International reactions

The sudden death of Garang also has caused international mourning and concern.

The UN and the US called Garang's death a loss for the country and urged all factions to carry out the peace process he began.

The US said it dispatched two top diplomats to encourage a smooth transition in the southern leadership.

"The US is determined to maintain our commitment to the peace process in Sudan," President George Bush said, hailing Garang as a "visionary leader and peacemaker."

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in a statement said that the death was "a terrible loss for Sudan."

Annan said that all indications as of now seem to indicate that Garang's death was an accident, and that government and the UN were "working to try and sort things out."

The Sudanese people "should remain calm, and I think it is essential that SPLM moves ahead very quickly to appoint a new leader," Annan added.

Rice offered her condolences "on the tragic death" of Garang.

Calling Garang "a man of great intellect and energy," Rice said he had "applied those qualities to achieving a just peace for the people of Sudan.

The US foreign policy leader urged all parties to the Sudanese conflict to "work toward Dr. Garang's vision of a unified, prosperous, and peaceful Sudan."

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)