'He died a free man'
2005-08-05 14:53
Rodrique Ngowi
Juba - The son of the late former rebel leader John Garang struggled to look to the future, as workers hurried to finish his father's tomb of granite and mud brick in time for Saturday's state funeral.
"It's difficult to find the words," Chol Garang said of his father's death only three weeks after he was sworn in as vice-president.
"This was his life's work for 22 years, so to actually be sworn in and then to die," the son paused with emotion. "He died a free man. He died in his own country."
John Garang's July 30 death in a helicopter crash in southern Sudan sparked riots as people were suspicious that the government had a hand in his death. More than 130 people were killed in riots.
The burial ritual
Juba was calm on Friday and mourners from surrounding villages were already gathering on Friday. The grounds of Juba's All Saints Cathedral, where Saturday's proceedings will begin with a multi-denominational service, were expected to be filled on Friday night in keeping with the tradition of spending the night with the dead before burial.
After his death, John Garang's body was first taken to New Site, a remote camp of his Sudan People's Liberation Movement. On Thursday, the body began a journey by plane from town to town in southern Sudan, allowing people to pay last respects. The body was to arrive in Juba later on Friday.
Chol Garang, a fine arts student at Britain's Kent University, broke ground on Thursday for his father's grave on a hilltop next to the provisional national assembly, predecessor of the legislature for the autonomous southern zone over which Garang was to have been president. Traditional chiefs first blessed the site by sacrificing a white bull, then reading out the names of ancestors.
Dealing with his father's death
Carpenters and welders were working around the clock trying to finish the tomb, a one-story structure with a star-shaped chamber over the grave representing the "guiding star" in the SPLM flag. The entrance hall symbolises all of Sudan and the exit hall the new Sudan John Garang promised would come with peace, said the project's chief engineer, Alikaya Aligo Samson.
The site was chosen because it "is the highest point in Juba so the vision for the new Sudan can start in the south," Samson said.
Chol Garang was in neighbouring Kenya when he heard the news of his father's death, and flew immediately to New Site. Chol Garang said he had been despairing until he joined his mother, Rebecca de Mabior, a leader in his Sudan People's Liberation Movement, at New Site.
"She was very strong and gave me confidence," Chol Garang said.
"It is still a shock. It seems like a bad dream and that when I wake up I will see him. But all I find are people weeping."
- AP