Sudan tense before funeral

2005-08-06 09:51

Bogonko Bosire

Juba - Thousands of Sudanese government troops and ex-rebel fighters deployed here on Saturday ahead of the funeral of Sudan's vice-president and former southern guerrilla leader John Garang.

As residents of Juba prepared a massive send-off for Garang, two planeloads of Sudanese soldiers, including members of the elite presidential guard, landed at Juba airport on Friday and were immediately deployed around town.

Heavily armed troops with rocket-propelled grenade launchers and assault rifles were positioned at 10m intervals on the streets of Juba which was rocked by deadly violence after Garang's death, an AFP correspondent said.

Half a million people, including Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir, South African President Thabo Mbeki, Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni are expected to attend the service.

Investigation under way

Officials from the African Union and the United Nations were also expected.

Garang was killed on July 30 when Museveni's presidential helicopter on which he was returning to southern Sudan from Uganda crashed in what Sudanese, Ugandan and SPLM/A officials had repeatedly said was an accident due to poor weather.

But on Friday, Museveni said it may not have been an accident, becoming the first official of any government to publicly suggest the crash may have been the result of foul play.

Salva Kiir, Garang's successor as SPLM/A chief declined to comment on the specifics of Museveni's remarks but said no cause had been ruled out pending an international investigation of the crash.

But in Khartoum and Juba, senior SPLM/A officials cautioned against making any assumptions about the cause of the crash as did a diplomat in Bor, Garang's birthplace where his coffin was brought after Yei.

Sudanese Information Minister Abdul Basit Sebdarat called Museveni's comments "extremely worrying".

"Uttering statements or speculations ahead of the investigation would harm the probe and the chances of finding the facts, the official SUNA news agency quoted Sebdarat as saying.

Garang and 13 others died when Museveni's presidential Mi-172 helicopter went down in the mountains of southern Sudan, sparking violence between northerners and southerners in Khartoum and the south that saw 130 killed and hundreds wounded.

His death and the rioting have raised fears of the unravelling of the landmark January peace deal he signed with Khartoum that ended Sudan's 21-year civil war between the Muslim north and the mainly Christian and animist south.

Relative calm returned to the streets of Khartoum as Muslim leaders appealed for peace and shop-owners reopened for business amid a noticeably lower security presence that was not at all apparent in Juba.

- AFP