Garang’s widow appointed MP in S. Sudan

Sept 22, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir on Thursday appointed the widow of his predecessor John Garang de Mabior as an MP in the parliament of southern Sudan, the official SUNA news agency reported.

Rebecca Garang was among 161 MPs appointed in line with a January peace deal that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war, which left some two million people dead and displaced twice as many from their homes.

Her husband and former southern rebel leader was one of the architects of the January 9 agreement which his group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed with the Khartoum government.

Under the deal Garang was appointed first vice president and president of the south in a grand ceremony in Khartoum on July 9.

He died in a July 30 helicopter crash, after only three weeks on the job.

Many praised the courage and leadership shown by Rebecca Garang after her husband’s death.

“I will not miss my husband as long the people of Sudan are the watchdogs of the (peace) deal,” she told mourners at her husband’s funeral on August 6 in Juba, the capital of south Sudan.

“If you play around, I will start to cry and mourn my husband,” she added.

“Leaders come and go, but what they leave behind is very important,” she said. “I want the (agreement) to be implemented as it is, no changes.”

Kiir has pledged to follow in Garang’s footsteps.

(AFP/ST)