John Garang
 John Garang    | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 23 June 1945 |
| Died | 30 July 2005 (Age 60) |
| Alma mater | University of Dar es Salaam |
| Interests | Sudan People's Liberation Movement |
John Garang de Mabior was a Sudanese politician and revolutionary leader. From 1983 to 2005, he led the Sudan People's Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War, and following a peace agreement he briefly was Vice President of Sudan[1] for 3 weeks until his death in a helicopter crash on 30 July 2005.
A developmental economist by profession, John Garang was a major influence on the movement (Sudan People's Liberation Movement) that led to the foundation of South Sudan.
Perspective
In 2003, facing critical food and fuel shortages, the Sudanese officer corps that was then the base of support for the recently deposed Omar al-Bashir capitulated and as part of the peace deal agreed to begin good faith negotiations with the various Sudanese resistance groups, both east, south and even, supposedly, in the west.
This resulted in John Garang, head of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir sitting down together to sign a comprehensive peace deal in Asmara, Eritrea late in 2004.
In December of 2004 we flew into Asmara, Eritrea and checked into the old Imperial Hotel, the Emboisoira, and found ourselves sharing breakfast with senior leaders of the SPLM. We had a satellite dish back in the US with EritreanTV so we had seen our breakfast mates on the news covering the recently signed peace deal in Asmara. They were all in high spirits, still excited about the prospect for peace in Sudan.
Later, after returning home to the USA in 2015 we heard of a new peace deal, this time being signed in Navaisha in Kenya. And this time the deal was brokered by the USA. The only real difference between the 2004 Asmara agreement and the 2005 Kenya deal was the inclusion of a clause calling for a referendum on independence for South Sudan.
"The Father"
The USA forced Bashir and Garang to accept this independence referendum after forcing a new peace “negotiation” and eventual, deal, in Kenya, away from Eritrean mediation efforts. Carrot and the stick, inducements and threats by the worlds superpower forced Garang and Bashir to accept the dismemberment of Sudan and created the conditions for one of the most brutal civil wars in African history. This was the doings of the USA from the get go.
After signing the peace deal John Garang, as head of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), held his first public rally in Khartoum and drew a million people or more, three times the largest crowd Bashir had ever had. There he made a fateful speech.
John Garang made it clear that he was strongly AGAINST independence for South Sudan, instead calling on his fellow Sudanese in the North to help elect him president to build a new Sudan based on equal rights and justice for all Sudanese.
Garang stated his intent to be politically independent from the western powers instead looking to China, already in the oil business in Sudan, to develop Sudan's economy. Sudan, as a whole, is the largest and potentially richest country in Africa and for the USA to lose Sudan to China wasn’t acceptable to Pax Americana.
John Garang was dead two weeks later in a mysterious helicopter crash and with him died a unified Sudan.
Within a few years a referendum was held for “independence” for South Sudan and voilà it was a done deal. The irony is that John Garang, who was vehemently against independence for South Sudan, is now proclaimed "The Father" of the South Sudanese independent state.[2]
Related Document
| Title | Type | Publication date | Author(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document:A Brief History of the CIA’s Dirty War in South Sudan | Article | 31 July 2019 | Ryan Dawson | The CIA are now almost completely out of the picture in South Sudan though one should never underestimate the Agency’s capacity for evil. It's in the US national interest to deny China access to African oil so it will always continue to be US vs China in South Sudan, as part of Pax Americana’s designs for Africa as a whole. |
References
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