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Deadly riots erupt in Sudan after Garang death

02 August 2005

KHARTOUM: At least 24 people were killed in Khartoum on Monday in riots sparked by the death of John Garang, who led Sudan's southern rebels for two decades before making peace and joining the government he fought.

Garang, a key figure in a January peace deal hailed a rare success story for Africa, became the first vice-president on July 9. He died over the weekend after the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was travelling in went down in bad weather.

As news of his death spread on Monday, thousands of his southern Sudanese supporters who had greeted a triumphant Garang when he became first vice president in July, took to the streets of Khartoum, wielding knives and bars, looting shops, starting fires and clashing with police.

Two police officers said 24 people, including police, were killed in the rioting. A Khartoum resident earlier said two people had been killed in his street.

"They (southerners) are beating anybody they see who looks like they are Arab," Swayd Abdullah, a student, said.

"People have been running all over the streets. The policemen are taking people from the streets. There is fire and smoke," a Reuters TV witness said.

The Khartoum governor announced a curfew from 6pm until 6am in the capital.

The rioting was some of the worst in the Sudanese capital in recent years. In May, displaced southerners attacked a police station in a camp on the outskirts of the capital and at least 17 police and residents were killed in the violence.

Members of Garang's southern Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the government in Khartoum – bitter enemies during the 21-year conflict – both promised to maintain the peace agreement Garang helped bring about.

ACCORD INTACT

Six of Garang's companions and a crew of seven also died in the crash near the Sudan-Uganda border, Khartoum said on Monday, though a member of the southern Sudan leadership council said 17 bodies were recovered.

Garang's death stunned the region, where Sudan's neighbours helped negotiate an end to the continent's longest civil war.

"It's shocking – the loss of a visionary leader," Kenya's Lt. Gen. Lazarus Sumbeiywo, who was the chief mediator in the Sudan peace talks, said.

"My prayer is that the Sudanese will remain level-headed."

Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir expressed confidence the power-sharing peace accord would remain intact.

"We are confident that the peace agreement will proceed as it was planned," he said in a televised statement.

At an SPLM news conference in Nairobi, members wept in grief. "Sudan has lost its loved son Dr John Garang," said Salva Kiir, deputy leader and Garang's probable replacement.

"We want to assure everyone that the leadership and all cadres of the SPLM/SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) will remain united and strive to faithfully implement the comprehensive peace agreement."

SPLM leaders were heading to New Site in southern Sudan for a crisis meeting. Garang's body arrived there early on Monday afternoon, a Western diplomat with the SPLM said.

Garang had left Uganda by helicopter late on Saturday to return to Sudan after talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Various sources in Uganda and Sudan said it appeared his helicopter ran into bad weather, although there was also speculation it had run out of fuel.

The helicopter came down near the remote, mountainous border region, with conflicting reports as to which side it fell on.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Deng Alor, a member of the SPLM's leadership council, said from New Site 17 bodies – a higher number than that given by the Sudanese presidency – had been recovered.

"We are not ruling out anything. We have asked Uganda's aviation authority to look at the flight recorder," he added.

More than a million Sudanese came out to salute Garang when he was sworn in as first vice-president on July 9 and signed with his old enemy al-Bashir a new interim constitution.

Many had hoped Garang would help achieve peace in Sudan's still ongoing conflict in Darfur in the west. And he was critical to the success of the north-south peace process.

There was speculation SPLM leaders may fight over the succession despite their calls for unity on Monday.

"What happens next is very, very interesting. In the worst case scenario, it's a south-south war. In the best case, we will see a democratic overhaul of the SPLM, which many people view currently as something of a dictatorship," said an experienced foreign Sudan observer well connected with the SPLM.

The southern civil war started in 1983 when the Islamist Khartoum government tried to impose Islamic sharia law on the mainly Christian and animist south. Two million people died in the conflict, mainly through hunger and disease.

Garang proved an adept politician as he allied himself with communists, courted US Christian groups and juggled tribal rivalries to hold power even amid fierce infighting.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3364930a12,00.html

Explosion targets house of Gaza attorney general

8/1/2005 - 8:41:19 PM

A large explosion ripped through the front of the house of the attorney general in Gaza City tonight, damaging the building but causing no injuries.

The front wall outside the house collapsed and the gate was mangled and charred.

It was not clear if Gaza Attorney General Hussein Abu Assi was home at the time of the blast.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion.

Gaza has been wracked with lawlessness in recent months.

Palestinian security, which had been largely decimated during the more-than four years of fighting with Israel, have clashed with militants and groups of armed men during attempts to enforce order.