Obituary: John Garang de Mabior (1945-2005) -- Visionary and peacemaker By Gamal Nkrumah It is an old story with guerrilla warfare -- a strong man invariably emerges to rein in the contending factions that make up an armed resistance movement. John Garang was such a man, and he knew the task at hand could turn messy. One of the most characteristic features of Garang's leadership style was the short shrift he gave to his detractors' criticisms and complaints. He had a clear vision for Sudan and his rivals, lesser mortals, were consistently left champing at the bit. "We haven't had tarmac roads since our creation. We are literally starting from scratch," Garang told me during the last interview I conducted with him. "My presence in Khartoum is a real signal that the war is truly over, and I have underlined this by coming with my family, including little Atong," Garang explained. He listened gravely and spoke in measured tones, but still fired with habitual martial ardour. His passing was bolt from the blue. The news of the first Sudanese vice-president's death caused disturbance throughout southern Sudan. For nearly 25 years he had realised his role as its most outspoken advocate. Southerners in the thousands took to the streets of Khartoum rampaging and pillaging, venting their disbelief and distress on everything in their path. They clashed with police, the death toll around 50, with scores injured. Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al-Beshir was upbeat: "We are confident the peace agreement will proceed as planned," he said soon after it was confirmed that Garang plunged to his death in a Ugandan presidential helicopter on the Ugandan-Sudanese border, an area agog with fighters of the Lord Resistance's Army, the Ugandan opposition group who have long been the sworn enemies of Garang and his Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). The SPLA was set up in 1983, and Garang's first foray into fighting Sudanese government forces was a qualified success. The first time I ever saw John Garang was in Harare, Zimbabwe in 1989. He was with his wife, Rebecca, and a host of aides. He was on a tour of southern African countries, primarily to garner support for the SPLA. Looking back, he was received virtually as a visiting head of state, much to the chagrin of Sudanese diplomats and government officials. Garang was given the red carpet treatment in all the capitals he called on. As I sat back and jotted down his descriptions of guerrilla warfare in the equatorial wastelands of southern Sudan, I had the strange feeling that I'd met the man before. Everything about him was so familiar, so very revolutionary leader. He was vaguely reminiscent of Kwame Nkrumah. His politics, like Nkrumah's, cast its influence over an entire continent. Both men were immensely charismatic. Both had vision and big dreams. But the analogy ends there. Garang was a man of war, and that is not to say that he did not have a good cause. Still, he was most comfortable in military fatigues. During the 22-year war, he shifted his camp from week to week, sometimes day to day: this location was unsuitable, that one inauspicious. Garang had a broad impassive face; he cultivated a ponderous dignity that often cowed his opponents. He had the temperament of a trained diplomat. He was shrewd, infinitely patient, courageous and ambitious. His characteristic amicability often lulled opponents into a false sense of ease. To some detractors, Garang was a southern Sudanese, or ethnic Dinka tyrant. But Garang was truly above tribalism. Garang and Reik Machar, his erstwhile Nuer rival, for years locked horns in a furious struggle for supremacy. In the end, Garang won his obstinate antagonist over. Some of his southern Sudanese foes -- and there were many -- were sly enough to stir up trouble by roiling an already chaotic situation. However, Garang always took immediate steps to strengthen his own position, within the SPLA, the local Sudanese political scene and on the international stage. Garang was a gifted politician, a shrewd negotiator. He had an easy-going manner, which made him a natural and popular leader. He presided over an utterly devastated and underdeveloped war-torn region from a ramshackle collection of huts in Rumbek, the designated capital of southern Sudan in the heart of Dinka country. His edicts were often delivered with the awesome finality worthy of the Seat of Judgement. Garang was American-educated. He studied at Ginnel College, Iowa, where he obtained a PhD in agricultural economics. In 1970, he declined a graduate fellowship offer at the University of California, Berkeley, to take up arms against the Sudanese authorities. After the signing of the Addis Ababa peace agreement of 1972, Garang joined the Sudanese army, rising quickly through the ranks. He received military training at the US army infantry school in Fort Benning, Georgia. It is ironic, indeed, that some of the most eloquent bereavements came from the powers that be in Washington. Garang was, after all, a socialist and a man of the people at heart. I recall an incident during one of his many visits to Cairo, when a southern Sudanese refugee woman in Egypt balked at her leader and asked why he sported such a massive paunch. "How can you fight in the African bush with such a belly," she bellowed. After much embarrassed consideration, Garang conceded that he does need to lose some weight. He took it all in his stride. "He was a visionary leader and peacemaker who helped bring about the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which is a beacon of hope for all Sudanese," said United States President George W Bush. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concurred, describing Garang as "a man of great intellect and energy, and he applied those qualities to achieving a just peace for the people of Sudan." Through his lifetime, Garang was the recipient of many honours, and he didn't regard American accolades as a political liability. For whatever reasons, perhaps because of Sudan's newfound oil wealth, the Bush administration has desperately sought peace in Sudan. Garang's aims -- political reform and change -- coincided with Washington's. The Americans pushed for peace, and Garang fell to the task with purposive will. The CPA was signed 9 January 2005, with Washington's blessing. By this time, beginning to enjoy the trappings of power, he was less socialist-oriented and he carefully cultivated international friendships. His political horizon thus widened, Garang set about the task of rebuilding southern Sudan with characteristic vigour. He will be remembered for the passionate determination he brought to everything he undertook.
