Garang says SPLM becomes national movement

KHARTOUM, July 9, 2005 (Xinhua) — Sudan’s new First Vice President John Garang said here Saturday that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) is a national movement.

John Garang is sworn in as first vice president of the republic in Khartoum, on July 9, 2005. (AFP) .

The former southern Sudan rebel leader called on all Sudanese people to support the SPLM, adding he came to Khartoum with his family to show evidence for a real end of the war in southern Sudan.

He also urged all Sudanese political parties to abandon their doubts and participate in the new stage of the national unity.

Garang, head of the (SPLM), was sworn-in as first vice president and Ali Othman Mohammed Taha, Sudan’s former first-vice president, became vice president Saturday after President Omar al-Bashir signed his approval of the new interim constitution and was re- sworn in as president of the interim government.

Thus a new Sudanese council of presidency was sworn in, marking a milestone in the history of Sudan.

Garang arrived in Khartoum on Friday afternoon for the first time after two decades of civil war, which started in 1983 when the SPLM took up arms to fight for self-determination in the southern part of the country.

The conflict had reportedly left some 2 million people dead, mostly through war-induced famine and diseases.

The Sudanese government and the SPLM signed a peace deal on Jan. 9 in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to end the longest civil war in Africa.

The sworn-in ceremony was witnessed by several heads of state and senior representatives of governments, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the Arab League Amr Moussa, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, Norwegian Minister of International Cooperation Hilde Johnson and US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick.