Note this excerpt from the article that educates readers far more about John Garang than any other news report I have seen circulating at the moment:
Mr. Garang was an enigma. He didn't reflect the aspirations of most Southern Sudanese to separate from Northern Sudan, arguing instead that the South would get a better deal as part of an "African" majority that could control the whole of Sudan. Nor did he build a democratic movement or a civil administration for the areas he controlled. But his dogged resistance won him respect; he ultimately became the pivotal figure in Sudan's politics, and was sworn in as vice president just three weeks before his death. Not just Southerners, but people from Darfur and eastern Sudan, and the downtrodden of Khartoum itself, saw him as proof that things were at long last changing.
The SPLA leader was a reluctant convert to peacemaker. During three years of painstaking negotiations, he kept the military option in reserve. Until the very last hour, his profound distrust of Khartoum, with its history of broken promises and serial atrocity, made him hesitate to sign. The final agreement is defensive: It keeps the SPLA as a separate army, controlling Southern Sudan, for a six-year interim period.
It is a remarkably good deal, and it came about in a remarkable way. The driving force has been exhaustion with an unwinnable war, along with Khartoum's recognition that Mr. Garang was the best chance for unity. But the Bush administration deserves credit. It is an example of what can be achieved by pursuing a simple aim - peace - with persistence and international cooperation. No other African issue has commanded such attention from the administration.
And it has worked, in an unusual way. A Kenyan general, representing a bloc of north-east African countries, led the mediation. The British organized an advisory group of former African guerrillas to help SPLA commanders think through the transition from insurgents to members of a national army, serving alongside former enemies. The Swiss stepped in to help negotiate a truce in the Nuba Mountains, which was then monitored by Norwegians. The World Bank provided technical skills on how to share Sudan's oil revenue. It's ad hoc multilateralism.
The Bush administration has rightly resisted the siren calls for regime change, knowing that the alternatives would likely be no better, and that chaos would be worse. They have been building the ladders, not feeding the snakes. Activists criticize the ethics of dealing with a brutal government. They have kept Sudan in the spotlight. But it is patience and compromise - the needlework of diplomacy - that will deliver peace.
Click here to read the full article courtesy Sudan Tribune.
Mr. de Waal, a fellow at the Global Equity Initiative, at Harvard, is the author, with Julie Flint, of "Darfur: A Short History of a Long War," forthcoming in September from Zed Press.
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John Garang: Charismatic Sudanese Vice-President
Excerpt from an tribute to John Garang by Gill Lusk in the Independent Aug 3, 2005:
"Doctor John" was not always seen as a beacon of democratic or peaceful hopes. He had set up the SPLA in 1983, when he was sent to the south to help to quell discontent among southern troops, who were angry that the then President, Jaafar Nimeiri, was dividing the south into three regions, a move rightly perceived as "dividing to rule". Garang never came back, joining and then taking over the rebellion. He held his position as leader with a capacity for decisiveness that his rivals often lacked. Many southerners died, disappeared or were detained in harsh conditions. Some SPLA commanders visited great suffering on civilians, especially those not from Garang's Dinka people. This has not been forgotten and even the legendary southern gift for reconciliation has not healed all wounds.- - -
Garang's death - Uganda under fire for failing to follow aviation guidelines
Some possible reasons for the helicopter crash that killed John Garang and fellow passengers are explained in a report excerpt via BBC Monitoring Service and Sudan Tribune:
One, the critics are saying the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) defied the rule that bars the helicopters of that category from flying out of the airport beyond 5.00 p.m. That Garang's helicopter is not supposed to fly at night, but CAA let it go. So that is one of the criticisms.- - -
And then another one is civil aviation - the rule here is that if a VIP of Garang's calibre is supposed to leave the international airport, Entebbe International Airport, the CAA is supposed to carry out a weather study three hours before the flight starts, and this was not done.
And then the third one is this aircraft was serviced recently and this is the longest flight it made and the critics are saying that this aircraft should not have gone on a long distance flight because it has just come out of service and it needed to be tested for quite some time before it take such a long journey.
Uganda postpones national mourning for Garang
Thu Aug 4 - Local press report in Uganda said on Thursday that the Sudanese government is holding bodies of the seven Ugandans who died in the helicopter crash near the Uganda-Sudan border.
'The Sudanese government has decided that the bodies should not be released until investigations into the cause of the crash are completed,' the report said.
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Norway to send UN force to Sudan as planned
Aug 4 report by Rolleiv Solholm The Norway Post:
The major part of the Norwegian contribution to the newly formed UN force in Sudan is already in place, or about to leave Norway.- - -
Norway's contingent is made up mainly of observers, staff officers and medical personnel.
Communication director Erling Boe at the Joint Operative Headquarters near Stavanger says to Stavanger Aftenblad that the Norwegian contingent at present will number 25 persons.
- The Norwegian medical team, numbering nine, are already in place and working in the field, Boe says.
Ex-president Clinton calls for US pressure on Sudan
You have to wonder if ex-President Bill Clinton is out of the loop or simply courting publicity for himself by saying on Wednesday that the U.S. should increase diplomatic pressure on Sudan to allow more foreign peacekeeping troops.
A report today by Reuters.co.za says during an appearance at a convention of African-American journalists in Atlanta, Mr Clinton said, "What we should do is try to go to the U.N. and put some more heat on the Sudanese government. We need more troops there."
Excerpt from the report:
Sudan agreed earlier this year to accept about 10,000 peacekeeping troops as part of the peace agreement in South Sudan - most of those troops will come from China, Egypt, Kenya, India, Bangladesh and a handful of other non-Western nations.If you scroll through the archives here at Sudan Watch you will find links to many news reports on the difficulties UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had in getting contributions of peacekeepers for South Sudan. Who is to pay the millions of dollars it would cost to have, as Mr Clinton seems to be suggesting, more than 13,000 troops in the Sudan, and for how long? It took a few years for everyone involved in the north-south peace deal to get to the point of 10,000 peacekeepers being agreed and funded for Southern Sudan. I've yet to see a report that says the UN has managed to get 10,000 peacekeepers. Last I saw, it was nowhere near that number. And the peacekeepers that are in South Sudan now, you don't see much of in the news [I wonder why].
Clinton, who recently visited Africa, said additional peacekeeping troops should not come from the United States or other Western nations but from nations "less controversial" to the government in Khartoum.
Mr Clinton would have done better to discuss with the journalists why the African Union have been so slow in getting their troops to Darfur (it looks like African politics are winning out or nobody else wants to get involved) and why their mandate in Darfur has not been expanded (again it looks like African politics winning out - Khartoum rejects an expanded mandate saying it would be seen as an occupying force) -- and who is funding and supporting the Darfur rebel groups SLA and JEM - and other rebel groups in the Sudan (none of the rebels seem to be gainfully employed but have plenty of arms, trucks, satellite phones while their leaders travel all over the world); and it would have been useful to know why African governments, such as the one in Niger, are not doing everything they can to feed their starving people and protect them.
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Photo: Sudanese soldiers secure Sudan's capital Khartoum on August 2, 2005, a day after deadly riots broke out in the city. (AFP)
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Peace in Sudan can be consummated without John Garang
Finally, here is the concluding paragraph of Alex de Waal's great report (see above):
"... But Mr. Garang's wisdom in examining every line in the hundreds of pages of detailed agreement is now his greatest legacy. Peace, institutionalized, can be consummated without him. The SPLA has already achieved a seamless leadership transition. The agreement and the new constitution are clear: Salva Kiir is the next vice president, and the Government of National Unity should be formed next week. The mourning period notwithstanding, these steps must proceed. Mr. Kiir should fly to Khartoum, be sworn in, and approve the list of candidates for governorships and ministerial portfolios. Along with condolences, President Bush has sent the right message to Sudan: no change in U.S. policy.
Photo by by SSgt Bradley C. Church
Senior Airman Mike Meares, of the 86th Air Expeditionary Group public affairs office, shows a local child his photo on the back of his digital camera July 28. The group donated soccer balls, soccer nets, candy and toys to the children attending the Nonko Primary School of Kigali-Kanombe, Rwanda. The United States provided transportation for 1,200 Rwandan forces to and back from Sudan in support of AMIS 2, the African Union Mission in Sudan.
Full Story at Hilltop Times "Airmen donate soccer balls, supplies to African children" Thursday August 4, 2005.
Tags: Sudan Darfur Garang John Garang
