Sudan’s SPLM to mark the 1st anniversary of Garang death

July 23, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) will mark on July 30 the first anniversary of the departure of the late John Garang, the former leader of the SPLM and the former First Vice- President of the Republic.

The celebration will be organized at Al-Merreikh Stadium, under the slogan “All Together Forward for Tolerance and Love”. The leading figure of the SPLM, Yassir Arman, explained that a great festival will be organized with the participation of all the people’s forces.

Arman reviewed the march of struggle of the late Garang, explaining that he was a man of great capability, who maintained stable relations with a number of countries.

Arman indicated that the movement works towards boosting the government of national unity with no intention to toppling the government, the official SUNA reported.

He also indicated that the SPLM will lead a large -scale action to reform the present government, explaining that there are a number of trends within the SPLM, some of them call for separating south Sudan from the north, while another strong one stands for the unity on a new basis.

Garang waged a 21-year war against Sudan’s northern Islamist government. But just months after signing a peace deal, his body was found in the wreckage of the aircraft after it plummeted into the remote mountains on the border with northeast Uganda on 30 July 2005.