US dispatches top African envoys after Garang death
WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (AFP) — The United States dispatched two senior envoys to Sudan on Monday in hopes of keeping the peace process in the African state on track after the death of former rebel leader and Vice President John Garang.
Connie Newman, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, and Roger Winter, special representative for Sudan, headed for Khartoum and the country’s south, State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.
Casey said the two would “confer with the parties and encourage them to maintain momentum on the comprehensive peace agreement” signed in January to end two decades of civil war, and to press efforts to end the crisis in Darfur.
They were dispatched as Sudan officials confirmed a helicopter carrying Garang, the ex-rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), crashed in southern Sudan, killing all passengers and crew on board.
Casey said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Sudan on July 31, spoke Monday with Garang’s widow Rebecca and contacts were under way with Sudan officials here in Washington and in Khartoum.
The State Department announcement came after White House spokesman Scott McClellan expressed condolences over Garang’s death and pledged renewed efforts to restore peace to the troubled country.
“The United States remains strongly committed to the peace process in Sudan and insisting on the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement and also working to resolve the situation in Darfur,” McClellan said.
Casey said that among the first priorities was an orderly and peaceful succession to Garang, 60, who became vice president only three weeks ago following the peace deal to end Africa’s longest-running civil war.
US officials acknowledged Garang’s death would be a blow as they had counted him to help end the bloodshed in Darfur, deemed genocide by Washington, that has left up to 300,000 people dead and 2.5 million homeless since February 2003.
Casey did not have an exact itinerary for Newman and Winter, named last week as special representative for Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, who has made three trips to Sudan this year.
“I expect they’ll be meeting with a wide range of both Sudanese government officials as well as representatives of the SPLM in Southern Sudan,” Casey said. He was unable to say if this included President Omar al-Beshir.