UN, US call on Sudan to implement Garang’s legacy
By Evelyn Leopold
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The United Nations and the United States on Monday called the death of former Sudanese rebel leader John Garang a loss for the country and urged all factions to carry out the peace process he began.
The United Nations, which has sent troops to implement a landmark agreement in southern Sudan, helped retrieve Garang’s body from a helicopter that crashed on Sunday while en route home from Uganda, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
“He is larger than life, rather charismatic and believed in his mission with all his being,” Annan told reporters. “He lived and fought for his dream. And just as he was on the verge of it, he lost his life.”
Garang, who last month became first vice president of the central government in Sudan, signed a peace agreement with Khartoum in January that ended two decades of civil war with his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The U.N. Security Council, led by the United States, last November traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to pressure the two sides to complete the pact.
The United States immediately dispatched two top diplomats, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Connie Newman and the U.S. special envoy to Sudan, Roger Winter, to encourage a smooth transition in the southern leadership and ensure the peace process continued.
‘GREAT INTELLECT AND ENERGY’
“I welcome the fact that the parties to the comprehensive peace agreement have re-emphasized their commitment to its full implementation,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in a statement. “We call on all parties to work toward Dr. Garang’s vision of a unified, prosperous and peaceful Sudan.”
Rice, who called Garang “a man of great intellect and energy,” spoke to his widow by telephone to offer her condolences.
Annan said he spoke to Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, who promised to work closely with Garang’s southern movement.
The SPLM has named Salva Kiir to succeed Garang. Kiir was Garang’s deputy and played a major role in negotiating the early stages of the peace deal.
“It is essential that the movement holds together and joins the government in Khartoum,” Annan said.
Annan recalled attending Garang’s inauguration on July 9 in Khartoum when 6 million people cheered him. “We cannot let them down,” the U.N. secretary-general said.
“Let’s move ahead with the peace process in the north and the south, in the west and in the east,” Annan said. The conflict in Darfur, in the west, was not covered under Garang’s north-south agreement with Sudan.
Annan and his special envoy in Khartoum, Jan Pronk, urged Sudanese, some of whom had rioted at the news of Garang’s death, to remain calm.
“All Sudanese people owe it to Mr. Garang to work together to complete the implementation of the comprehensive peace agreement,” Pronk said.
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the African Union said Garang’s death came amid efforts to “fundamentally reconstruct the social, political and economic landscape of the Sudan.”
“In these short three weeks, he had indeed taken remarkably bold decisions to restructure the SPLM and no less bold steps to reach out for reconciliation and cooperation with his erstwhile adversaries,” said Alpha Oumar Konar, chairman of the African Union commission.