Son of John Garang mourns and helps prepare grave in Juba

Excerpt from Aug 5 report at the Conservative Voice [note it reveals John Garang's son, Chol Garang, is/was a fine arts student at the University of Kent here in England]:

Juba was calm Friday. Women cooked red beans, okra and sorghum porridge in large aluminum pots to feed the thousands expected at the funeral.

Mourners from surrounding villages were already gathering Friday. The grounds of Juba's All Saints Cathedral, where Saturday's proceedings will begin with a multi-denominational service, were expected to be filled Friday night in keeping with the tradition of spending the night with the dead before burial. A choir rehearsed in the cathedral Friday.

After his death, John Garang's body was first taken to New Site, a remote camp of his Sudan People's Liberation Movement. The body began a journey Thursday by plane from town to town in southern Sudan, allowing people to pay last respects. The body was to arrive in Juba later Friday.

Chol Garang, a fine arts student at Britain's Kent University and one of six Garang children, broke ground Thursday for his father's grave on a hilltop next to the Provincial Legislative Assembly, predecessor of the legislature for the autonomous southern zone over which Garang was to have been president. Traditional chiefs first blessed the site by sacrificing a white bull, then reading out the names of ancestors.

Carpenters and welders were working around the clock trying to finish the tomb, a one-story structure with a star-shaped chamber over the grave representing the "guiding star" in the SPLM flag. The entrance hall symbolizes all of Sudan and the exit hall the new Sudan John Garang promised would come with peace, said the project's chief engineer, Alikaya Aligo Samson.

The site was chosen because it "is the highest point in Juba ... so that the vision for the new Sudan can start in the south," Samson said.

John Garang's family brought the bed he slept in while a rebel leader to be buried with him, said cathedral provost Frasier Yugu.



Photo: Chol Garang the son of the late southern Sudanese leader John Garang waits Friday Aug. 5, 2005 for the body of his father to arrive in Juba, southern Sudan. Chol Garang, a fine arts student at Britain's Kent University, broke ground Thursday for his father's grave in Juba . (AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)

Chol Garang was in neighboring Kenya when he heard the news of his father's death, and flew immediately to New Site. Chol Garang said he had been in despair until he joined his mother, Rebecca de Mabior, a leader in his Sudan People's Liberation Movement, at New Site.



Workers prepare the gravesite for former rebel leader John Garang in Juba, Sudan Friday, Aug. 5 2005. Garang will be buried in a red-brick and granite-stone tomb in the town on Saturday in a state funeral, a week after dying in a helicopter crash in southern Sudan.(AP Photo/Sayyid Azim)
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African Union Peace and Security Council - 36th meeting

4 Aug 2005, Addis Abeba, Ethiopia - Excerpt from report via ReliefWeb:

Council urged all Sudanese Parties concerned to vigorously pursue their efforts aimed at bringing about lasting peace and reconciliation through the effective implementation of the CPA, which will, no doubt, facilitate the settlement of the other conflicts facing the country, in particular in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Council reiterated AU's determination to continue to support the efforts of the Sudanese parties in their quest for peace, justice and reconciliation. In this respect, Council appealed to the donor community to fulfill the pledges made during the Oslo Conference.

Council further urged the international community, including the AU Member States, to redouble their efforts in support of the post-conflict reconstruction of the Sudan.
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In the wake of John Garang's death - Peace is still possible

Eric Reeves, in his latest opinion piece Aug 3, says:

SPLM officials should support Salva Kiir as leader, but encourage him to create a leadership council that functions as a collective source of wisdom and guidance in making key political, diplomatic, and military decisions. As the NIF begins testing southern leadership in earnest, the historic peace agreement of January will become only a bitter memory if the legacy of John Garang is not preserved with vigilant, disciplined efforts by all within the SPLM leadership. Yet greater inclusion of southerners in the new governance structures is also imperative. Peace is still possible for Sudan, but it became a great deal more difficult with this tragic death.

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John Prendergast and David Mozersky, in their WSJ opinion piece Aug 5, say:

If calm and stability begins to return to Sudan, then the CPA will still have a strong chance for success. The SPLM can use this opportunity to democratize and strengthen what had largely been Mr. Garang's movement. It will take years for the Sudanese to get over the loss, but nothing would better serve his legacy than a return to peace for a country plagued by a history of civil war.

- Mr. Prendergast is special adviser to the president of the International Crisis Group, where Mr. Mozersky is a senior analyst.

Tags: Sudan Darfur Africa African Union Chol Garang Garang Ethiopia