John Garang
Dr. John Garang | |
---|---|
Southern Sudan (Autonomous Region) | |
In office July 9, 2005 – July 30, 2005 | |
Vice President | Salva Kiir Mayardit |
Preceded by | Position Created |
Succeeded by | Salva Kiir Mayardit |
First Vice President of Sudan | |
In office January 9, 2005 – July 30, 2005 | |
President | Omar al-Bashir |
Preceded by | Ali Osman Taha |
Succeeded by | Salva Kiir Mayardit |
Personal details | |
Born | John Garang de Mabior June 23, 1945 Wangulei village, PhD ) |
Dr. John Garang de Mabior (June 23, 1945 – July 30, 2005)
Early life and education
Garang, who was, and continues to be, regarded as one of the founding leaders of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and Army, a revolutionary organization that fought a protracted conflict in Sudan, was a member of the
He was offered another scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the
The civil war ended with the
Political ideology
Garang coined the philosophy of "Sudanism"[12] which would be the guiding philosophy to a secular and multiethnic New Sudan.[13] He believed, for the people of Sudan to live in cohesion, they must not separate themselves into the many existing ethnic factions present within the nation but, rather, to collectively renounce the belief that Black African-ness, Islam, or Christianity were to be the ultimate defining characteristics of Sudan. Rather, he willed that citizens should embrace all cultures of Sudan, including the creation of further pagan involvement into Sudanese life, a policy embraced by many of Sudan's elite, and to unify under the one commonality they all share, being Sudanese and coming from a background of Judaism, Christianity and Paganism.
Rebel leader
In 1983, Garang went to
This action marked the commonly agreed upon beginning of the
Garang was a strong advocate for national unity: minorities together formed a majority and, therefore should rule. Together, Garang believed, they could replace President Omar al-Bashir with a government made up of representatives from “all tribes and religions in Sudan." His first real effort for the cause, under his command, occurred in July 1985 with the SPLA’s incursion into Kordofan.[17]
The SPLA gained the backing of Libya, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Garang and his army controlled a large part of the southern regions of the country, named "New Sudan". He claimed his troops' courage came from "the conviction that we are fighting a just cause. That is something North Sudan and its people don't have." Critics suggested financial motivations to his rebellion, noting that much of Sudan's oil wealth lies in the south of the country.[17]
In the early 1991, Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime (in Ethiopia) was overthrown by the Khartoum backed Ethiopian rebels (Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front). Upon the rebels’ seizure of the government, they closed all SPLA training camps in Ethiopia and cut off the SPLA's arms supply, forcing the SPLA to return hundreds of thousands of Sudanese back to South Sudan. This disrupted military operations and leadership within the SPLA. However, this caused the West to reconsider relations with the SPLA – justifying their providing the SPLA with "non-lethal help."[18]
Shortly after, there were leadership misunderstandings between Garang and senior SPLA commanders,
On September 14, 1992, Bany, who was at the time Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the SPLA and Deputy Chairman of the SPLM, announced his defection from the SPLA, and escaped Garang territory. The following day, Commander
Garang had refused to participate in the 1985 interim government or the 1986 elections, remaining a rebel leader. However, the SPLA and government signed a peace agreement on January 9, 2005, in Nairobi, in Kenya. On July 9, 2005, he was sworn in as the First-Vice-President – the second most powerful person in the country – following a ceremony in which he and President Omar al-Bashir signed a power-sharing constitution. Simultaneously, he became the premier in southern Sudan. This administration had limited autonomy for six years, at the end of which there would be a scheduled referendum regarding secession. No Christian or southerner had ever held such a high government post. Commenting after this ceremony, Garang stated, "I congratulate the Sudanese people, this is not my peace or the peace of al-Bashir, it is the peace of the Sudanese people."
In the Hillcrest Hotel in
Over 15 months, starting in September 2003, Ali Osman and Garang met in private in Naivasha. Their secret meetings and negotiations lasted up until the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was initialed on New Year's Eve 2004.[18]
The CPA appeared to embody the vision of the "New Sudan" that Garang wanted. Within the CPA, power was split between the
As a leader, John Garang's democratic credentials were often questioned. For example, according to Gill Lusk, "John Garang did not tolerate dissent and anyone who disagreed with him was either imprisoned or killed".[5] Under his leadership, the SPLA was accused of human rights abuses.[5]
The ideological profile of SPLA was as shadowy as Garang himself. He varied from Marxism to drawing support from Christian fundamentalists in the US.[5]
The
Garang effectively used radio to advance his cause.[25]
Death
In late July 2005, Garang died after the Ugandan presidential
After the helicopter had been missing for more than 24 hours, the Ugandan president notified the Sudanese government, which in turn contacted the SPLM for information. The SPLM responded that the helicopter Garang was taking had landed safely at an old SPLA training camp. The Sudanese state television duly reported this. A few hours later, Abdel Basset Sabdarat, Sudan's Information Minister, then appeared on TV to refute the earlier report that Garang's helicopter landed safely. It was Yasir Arman, the SPLA/M spokesperson, who had told the government that Garang's plane had landed safely and his intention, in doing so, was to buy time for internal succession arrangements within the SPLA, before Garang's death was to be declared. Garang's helicopter crashed on Friday and he remained 'missing' throughout Saturday. During this time, the government believed he was still resolving his affairs in Southern Sudan. Finally, a statement released by the office of the Sudanese President,
His body was flown to New Cush, a southern Sudanese settlement near the scene of the crash, where former rebel fighters and civilian supporters gathered to pay their respects to Garang. Garang's funeral took place on August 3 in
Rumors
Both the Sudanese government and the head of the SPLA blamed the weather for the accident. There are, however, doubts as to whether this was the true cause, especially among the rank and file of the SPLA. Yoweri Museveni, the Ugandan President, stated that the possibility of "external factors" having played a role could not be eliminated.[citation needed]
The SPLM/SPLA Rumbek crisis, which took place in Rumbek from November 29 to December 1, 2004; one month before the signing of the CPA is also believed to have been a factor relevant to John Garang's death.[citation needed]
While the Sudanese people followed the Naivasha peace talks closely, with high hopes of freedom and democratic transformation, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) was rife with rumors and accusations of conspiracy relating to the removal of SPLM deputy Chairman, Salva Kiir Mayardit, and his replacement with the young Nhial Deng Nhial. Nhial Deng Nhial was the son of the famous leader of the southern Sudanese, William Deng Nhial, who had been assassinated by the Sudanese army in 1968. William Deng Nhial had led the Sudan African National Union (SANU) in exile, but had returned to Sudan to take part in the 1968 elections, shortly before he was killed. It has been reported that Salva Kiir disagreed with the amnesty afforded to Riek Machar and Lam Akol after their coup attempt against Garang in 2003; he also disliked Garang's decision to give Machar a leadership position as his deputy. It is rumored that in response to these actions by Garang, Kiir threatened to lead an armed revolt against South Sudan's leadership.[29]
See also
- Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira
- First Sudanese Civil War
- List of unsolved deaths
- Second Sudanese Civil War
- Sudan People's Liberation Army
References
- ^ "Sudan VP Garang killed in crash". August 1, 2005. Retrieved September 11, 2020.
- People's Daily Online. Archived from the originalon August 8, 2017. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
- ^ Wheeler, Jake (July 31, 2021). "Ten years after independence, South Sudan must return to Garang's vision". Revista de Prensa (in Spanish). Retrieved September 15, 2022.
- ISBN 9781473828230.
- ^ a b c d Phombeah, Gray (August 3, 2005). "Obituary: John Garang". BBC News. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
- ^ a b "Leaders call death of former rebel leader a great loss to Sudan". The New York Times. August 2, 2005. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ "Garang: Rebel leader to vice-president". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
- ISBN 978-0-19-537420-9., p. 80.
- ^ "Negotiating Peace in Sudan - John Garang de Mabior". Iowa State Lectures Program. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
- ^ "A Voice for South Sudan". Iowa State University Alumni Association. Iowa State University (ISU). Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ Miller, Tim (July 31, 2007). "Sudanese students commemorate Garand death in US Iowa". Sudan Tribune News. Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved November 19, 2018.
- ^ A Speech by John Garang - FULL (YouTube)
- ^ "What is the government in view of Dr. John Garang". YouTube. Sudanese Online. March 27, 2012. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2018.
- ^ Johnson, D. The Root Causes of Sudan's Civil Wars, Indiana University Press, 2003, pp. 61–2.
- ^ Buay, Gordon (January 24, 2011). "Who Is CDR. William Nyuon Bany Machar?". Gurtong Trust. Archived from the original on June 20, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ Teresa (June 21, 2019). "Brief Biography and Facts About Major(Cdr). Late William Nyuon Bany Machar". City Scrollz. Archived from the original on June 19, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ a b Cockett, R., 2010, Sudan: Darfur and the Failure of an African State, Yale UP.
- ^ a b c d Flint, J. and Alex de Waal, 2008 (2nd Edn), Darfur: A New History of a Long War, Zed Books.
- ^ )
- ISBN 978-1-349-14951-3. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ "The National Courier: TODAY IN HISTORY: William Nyuon Bany, on 27th of Sept 1992, Defects from SPLA/M In Pageri". Facebook. September 27, 2014. Archived from the original on February 26, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ Reeves, Eric (August 2, 2005). "Untimely Death". The New Republic.
- ^ "Number of Sudan peacekeepers might need to be doubled, Bush says". Retrieved April 1, 2015.
- ^ McDonnell, Nick. "The Activist Alex de Waal among the war criminals". Harpers. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
- S2CID 253406737.
- ^ Mohamed Osman (August 1, 2005). "Sudanese vice president, 13 others, killed in air crash". South Tribune. Archived from the original on January 1, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- ^ "Sudan bids rebel leader farewell". BBC News. August 6, 2005.
- ^ Wax, Emily (August 30, 2005). "Widow of Sudan's Garang Steps In to Continue His Mission". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 25, 2007.
- ^ Jesus Deng Chaui (March 9, 2014). "Who Killed Hero Dr John Garang?". South Sudan News Agency. Retrieved January 1, 2019.
- Aufstand in der Dreistadt by Thomas Schimidinger in Jungle World Nr.32: August 10, 2005; ISSN 1613-0766
Publications
- Garang, John, 1987 John Garang Speaks. M. Khalid, ed. London: Kegan Paul International.
External links
Media related to John Garang at Wikimedia Commons
- John Garang on National Public Radio
- Official website of the Sudan People's Liberation Army
- A State Department archive of information from before January 2001
- Sudan ex-rebel joins government, BBC, July 9, 2005
- Obituary, BBC
- Deadly riots erupt in Sudan after Garang death, Reuters, August 1, 2005
- The return of a Sudanese survivor, opinion piece in The Daily Star, Lebanon, July 19, 2005 – some info on early life
- Uganda Joins Sudan in Investigating Garang's Death, William Eagle, Voice of America, August 9, 2005
- John Garang’s mysterious death | Al Jazeera World Documentary, 26 Jul 2023.