Nickdfresh
08-01-2005, 12:21 PM
Clashes after Sudanese VP's death
Monday, August 1, 2005; Posted: 6:58 a.m. EDT (10:58 GMT)
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/africa/08/01/sudan.garang/story.garang.ap.jpg
Garang speaking in Khartoum in July.
(CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/01/sudan.garang/index.html)) -- Bloody street clashes have erupted between Christian and Arab gangs in Khartoum following the death of Sudanese Vice President and former rebel leader John Garang, according to U.N. officials in the Sudanese capital.
Elizabeth Colton, a spokeswoman for the embassy, told CNN that riots and looting began in parts of the city and in distant suburbs after the government officially announced Garang's death in a helicopter crash.
"It triggered a huge outcry," she said. "He'd barely been in office, hadn't even been a month. There is huge frustration and concern throughout the country."
"The government has urged the people to be calm and has said it is very much committed to the peace process," she said.
Video from Arab network Al Jazeera showed dozens of vehicles in flames and one group of people carrying an injured man to a waiting emergency vehicle. Thick black smoke rose into the air and swelled through the streets from several locations.
Colton said Garang, leader of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, had been "completely integral" to the peace process that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's Islamic government and its largely Christian and animist population in the oil-rich south.
Earlier Monday, Sudan TV -- citing a statement from President Omar el-Bashir -- said Garang had been killed in a helicopter crash en route from Uganda to Sudan.
Garang was a former leader of a rebel movement in southern Sudan who took office in early July as part of a peace agreement that ended more than 20 years civil war between Sudan's Islamic government and its largely Christian and animist population in the oil-rich south.
According to the statement cited on Sudan TV, Garang's aircraft went down because of poor visibility en route from Uganda to Sudan.
The statement referred to the vice president as a "man of peace" and called his death a tragedy.
Ugandan troops late Sunday launched a search for the aircraft that carried Garang after losing contact with it in bad weather, a Ugandan army spokesman said.
Garang had been headed back to Khartoum after talks in Uganda, Ugandan army Maj. Felix Kulaigye told CNN.
The agreement between the government and Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Movement had raised hopes for a resolution of the separate conflict in western Sudan's Darfur region, where U.N. officials estimate that more than 180,000 have died and two million have been displaced since 2003.
The Darfur conflict began with an uprising by black African tribes, who complained of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of responding by backing a counterinsurgency by Arab militia known as the Janjaweed.
Observers blamed the conflict in southern Sudan for the deaths of more than two million people.
-- CNN Producer Gladys Njoroge contributed to this report
Monday, August 1, 2005; Posted: 6:58 a.m. EDT (10:58 GMT)
http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2005/WORLD/africa/08/01/sudan.garang/story.garang.ap.jpg
Garang speaking in Khartoum in July.
(CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/01/sudan.garang/index.html)) -- Bloody street clashes have erupted between Christian and Arab gangs in Khartoum following the death of Sudanese Vice President and former rebel leader John Garang, according to U.N. officials in the Sudanese capital.
Elizabeth Colton, a spokeswoman for the embassy, told CNN that riots and looting began in parts of the city and in distant suburbs after the government officially announced Garang's death in a helicopter crash.
"It triggered a huge outcry," she said. "He'd barely been in office, hadn't even been a month. There is huge frustration and concern throughout the country."
"The government has urged the people to be calm and has said it is very much committed to the peace process," she said.
Video from Arab network Al Jazeera showed dozens of vehicles in flames and one group of people carrying an injured man to a waiting emergency vehicle. Thick black smoke rose into the air and swelled through the streets from several locations.
Colton said Garang, leader of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement, had been "completely integral" to the peace process that ended more than two decades of civil war between Sudan's Islamic government and its largely Christian and animist population in the oil-rich south.
Earlier Monday, Sudan TV -- citing a statement from President Omar el-Bashir -- said Garang had been killed in a helicopter crash en route from Uganda to Sudan.
Garang was a former leader of a rebel movement in southern Sudan who took office in early July as part of a peace agreement that ended more than 20 years civil war between Sudan's Islamic government and its largely Christian and animist population in the oil-rich south.
According to the statement cited on Sudan TV, Garang's aircraft went down because of poor visibility en route from Uganda to Sudan.
The statement referred to the vice president as a "man of peace" and called his death a tragedy.
Ugandan troops late Sunday launched a search for the aircraft that carried Garang after losing contact with it in bad weather, a Ugandan army spokesman said.
Garang had been headed back to Khartoum after talks in Uganda, Ugandan army Maj. Felix Kulaigye told CNN.
The agreement between the government and Garang's Sudanese People's Liberation Movement had raised hopes for a resolution of the separate conflict in western Sudan's Darfur region, where U.N. officials estimate that more than 180,000 have died and two million have been displaced since 2003.
The Darfur conflict began with an uprising by black African tribes, who complained of discrimination and oppression by Sudan's Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of responding by backing a counterinsurgency by Arab militia known as the Janjaweed.
Observers blamed the conflict in southern Sudan for the deaths of more than two million people.
-- CNN Producer Gladys Njoroge contributed to this report