Rebel leader's death queried
2005-08-03 09:24
Tanalee Smith
Khartoum - The leadership of John Garang's political movement has called for an international investigation into the weekend helicopter crash in southern Sudan that killed their leader and 13 others, sparking two days of deadly clashes in the capital.
Pagan Amum, a leading member of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), said the group hoped the United Nations, Uganda, Kenya, the United States and Britain would take part in the probe, according to comments published in Wednesday's Sudan Vision newspapers.
The SPLM and the government have said they believe the crash was an accident due to poor weather. It was not clear whether the request for a probe was a change in that stance.
Requesting peace
Amum also urged Sudanese to refrain from violence.
"We once again appeal to the people to avoid anything that would mar the climate of peace, albeit the great loss and suffering they feel," Amum told the English daily.
At least 49 people were killed in Khartoum in two days of violence, according to a United Nations official, though the number was not officially confirmed.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan also urged calm, saying of the helicopter crash that "all indications as of now seem to indicate it was an accident".
The government and SPLM have sought to reassure people that the fragile peace was not threatened Garang's death. Amum stressed the implementation of January's comprehensive peace agreement would continue as planned.
Two United States state department officials were expected in Sudan on Wednesday "to confer with the parties and encourage them to maintain momentum on the comprehensive peace agreement and on Darfur", department spokesperson Tom Casey said.
Riots rock Sudan
Clashes erupted on Monday in Khartoum, when angry SPLA supporters reacted to the news of Garang's death by smashing and burning vehicles and looting stores. Some blamed the government for Garang's death.
On Tuesday, frightened Sudanese in some neighbourhoods carried clubs and bricks for protection as the violence turned ethnic and sectarian, pitting Muslim Arabs against Khartoum residents from the mostly Christian and animist south.
A dusk-to-dawn curfew was declared for the second night in a row and armoured vehicles topped by soldiers patrolled the streets of downtown. In the outlying neighbourhoods where the violence was focused, the military presence was even heavier.
Tribal leaders - who carry more weight with many people than government officials - appealed far calm in TV and radio messages.
Garang's body is lying at New Site, one of his former bases in southern Sudan. The body will be taken to key towns in the south to allow supporters to pay their respects before heading to Juba, the planned capital of the south's future autonomous government, created under the peace deal and new constitution.
- AP