Rebel leader seeks peace after 20-year war in Sudan
By ANDREW ENGLAND Associated Press Writer
RUMBEK, Sudan, Oct 29, 2003 (AP) — In the United States, rebel leader John Garang learned soldiering and economics, skills he took with him back to his native Sudan, home to Africa’s longest-running civil war.
The imposing 58-year-old has used his skills in the war, and may soon apply them as vice president of Sudan if the warring parties agree to a power-sharing deal as part of a U.S.-backed peace plan.
“My background in the military is by force of circumstance,” Garang told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “Of course it’s been worth it, especially now you see Sudan transforming.”
There is little doubt that Sudan must be transformed. The country has only known a brief period of peace since independence from Anglo-Egyptian rule in 1956 and more than 2 million people have died from fighting and war-related famine and disease since the latest conflict began its latest phase in 1983.
Garang, who describes himself as an “Episcopalian-stroke-Lutheran,” has spent most of his adult life battling the predominantly Arab and Muslim government in Khartoum to seek greater autonomy for the largely animist and Christian south. The conflict also is fueled by competition for oil, land and other resources.
Garang’s followers address him either as “doctor,” because of his Ph.D. from Iowa State University, or “chairman,” for his position in the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army. At a recent press conference after discussing 15-month-old peace talks, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called him simply, “Dr. John.”
Powell, who has said ending the war in Sudan is a top priority for the Bush administration, met with Garang and Sudanese government officials last week in neighboring Kenya and announced that the warring parties had agreed to remain in negotiations and “conclude a comprehensive settlement no later than the end of December.”
Sudan, with a population of 30 million people, is listed by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism. Osama bin Laden lived in Khartoum, the capital, in the early 1990s and had numerous business interests in the country. Sudan has, however, been credited with cooperating in the war against terrorism since the Sept. 11 attacks.
The government has been accused of supporting slavery and bombing aid groups and civilians in the conflict, but human rights groups also have criticized Garang.
“Their human rights record is poor because of the lack of accountability,” said Jemera Rone of Human Rights Watch. “That has led to a lot of abuses that have never been punished, including summary executions, disappearances, prolonged arbitrary detentions, corrupt transactions and the taking of food from civilians.”
Garang, who spoke outside his residence in this rebel town, dismisses the allegations.
“A movement that has lasted 20 years will have its critics,” he said. “Which leader never gets criticized? … Our (human rights) record is available for scrutiny by history.”
The articulate rebel leader gives little away about himself – except that he reads war classics, from Sun Tzu to George Patton.
A member of southern Sudan’s largest tribe, the Dinka, Garang was born in an impoverished village, and at 18 left high school in Rumbek to join the first southern rebellion in 1963. But he said guerrilla leaders urged him to finish school, which he eventually did in Tanzania.
He later attended Grinnell College in Iowa, graduating in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, after which he returned to Africa with a fellowship to study at Dar es Salaam University, Tanzania – then a hot bed of radical thinking. There he met Yoweri Museveni, who would later lead a rebellion in Uganda from 1981-1986 and become a key ally.
Garang returned to southern Sudan in 1970 and was integrated into the government army two years later when a peace deal was reached. During the next 11 years, Garang attended the U.S. Army infantry officer’s course at Fort Benning, Georgia, and earned his doctorate at Iowa State University.
But some southerners, including Garang, felt the peace was doomed and formed a covert group to organize another rebellion.
In May 1983, then Col. Garang was visiting troops in the south when the army attacked a battalion he’d once commanded. Suddenly the second war was under way, months earlier than the rebels intended, he said. As the most senior officer, Garang assumed leadership.
With peace on the horizon, he now hopes to use his nonmilitary skills to turn the “liberation energy” toward development. But the warring parties still have to resolve some key issues, and Garang said he’s learned to “keep expectations modest.”
“The situation is sufficiently complex that you don’t want to overextend your emotional resources,” he said. “I don’t get easily excited.”