South Sudan peace in the balance
Pray for peace in Southern Sudan. Pray hard. Southern leader John Garang, who was made into a vice-president as part of the recent peace accord between southerners and the central government in Khartoum, has died in a helicopter crash, in bad weather in an area of the south under the control of his militia.
Peace in Darfur is really important, too. But the suffering in South Sudan over the past 15 years has been truly, truly horrendous.
As I said on my site, I'm getting a really bad Habyarimana vibe from this. If there was ever a time for concerted international mediation, it's now.
Peace in Darfur is really important, too. But the suffering in South Sudan over the past 15 years has been truly, truly horrendous
I agree and it’s tragic due two many elements major it’s the Sudan government and others external factors.
The problem in Sudan its not new but the recent China interest in the oil in Sudan and the agreement they got with Sudan government exposed this human tragedy specially through the Western Aid Agencies, if we go deeper its all about who hold and control the OIL? Helena.
I agree with John Edelstein. This tragedy has an eery parallel with what happened to Juvenal Habyarimana. Who was in line in the SPLA to replace John Garang? Can he/she become the new first vice president?
It appears that Garang's successor as SPLM leader will be his second in command, Salva Kiir Mayardit. Under Article 68 of the transitional constitution, the SPLM has the right to fill the vacant vice-presidency that Garang occupied, and will probably nominate Kiir for the post.
Thus far, the sources available to me don't reveal much about Kiir - he's a Dinka, a Catholic, a close associate of Garang (who has nevertheless quarreled with him from time to time), a high-ranking member of the SPLM/A's military wing and an important player in the Machakos negotiations. I'm not sure what his attitudes are toward the peace process, power sharing and the divisions within the south; maybe Helena knows more.
"The suffering in South Sudan over the past 15 years has been truly, truly horrendous."
...very true and noone seems to care...not the major powers nor the major international institutions...maybe if those unfortunate souls would only learn that the best way to get attention is by bombing a disco of young foreign backpackers (Bali), murdering hundreds of school children (Beslan), suicide bombing commuters (London), blowing up tourists (Tunisia, Egypt, Turkey), etc...
I couldn't agree more with the sentiment that Sudan has largely been ignored and I think your request that people pray for Sudan is well justified.
I may have a rather unique vantage point here in having once read Garang's Ph.D. dissertation - at Northern Iowa as I recall. Unlike so many other garbage plagiarized dissertations written by those from certain Arab sheikdoms, this one deserves to be studied as a classic in development economics. Essentially, its about how Sudan could indeed be a bread basket for Africa and the Middle East. Alas, with the still festering "grass curtain" of world disinterest, Sudan has been and may continue to be a "basket case" of world disdain.
By the way, I was astonished by the hatchet job ITN report that the NewsHour ran last night on Garang. No mention of his personal background, his education, his faith, (and why it matters) nor his movement's struggles, or of the laudible achievements in peacemaking efforts in recent years. Instead, we get snide, if vague comments about his presumed "authoritarian" manner.
We also got little sense of just why all too many Sudanese have plausible reason to suspect foul play. (This is old stuff folks - standard operating procedure in the region for "settling scores" - from Iraq to Egypt.... esp. the latter vis-a-vis Sudan.)
So yes, amid my own suspicions and sense of loss, I too will add a prayer....
I may have a rather unique vantage point here in having once read Garang's Ph.D. dissertation - at Northern Iowa as I recall. Unlike so many other garbage plagiarized dissertations written by those from certain Arab sheikdoms, this one deserves to be studied as a classic in development economics. Essentially, its about how Sudan could indeed be a bread basket for Africa and the Middle East. Alas, with the still festering "grass curtain" of world disinterest, Sudan has been and may continue to be a "basket case" of world disdain.
By the way, I was astonished by the hatchet job ITN report that the NewsHour ran last night on Garang. No mention of his personal background, his education, his faith, (and why it matters) nor his movement's struggles, or of the laudible achievements in peacemaking efforts in recent years. Instead, we get snide, if vague comments about his presumed "authoritarian" manner.
We also got little sense of just why all too many Sudanese have plausible reason to suspect foul play. (This is old stuff folks - standard operating procedure in the region for "settling scores" - from Iraq to Egypt.... esp. the latter vis-a-vis Sudan.)
So yes, amid my own suspicions and sense of loss, I too will add a prayer....
scott
Thanks for sharing your interesting perspective regarding Dr. Garang with us...in point of fact he received his PhD in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University.
Your site is realy very interesting. http://www.bignews.com