John Garang
(1945-2005)

By Mohammed El-Hussini

John Garang was the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the vice-president of Sudan. He was married to Rebecca Nial Ding, a fighter in the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

He had four daughters attending secondary school and two sons studying in the USA. Garang was born in Mabior, near Upper Nile province of Bor.

He belonged to Dinka, the largest tribe in south Sudan.

His Christian family sent him to study in Grinnell College, Aiwa, USA. The US government granted him a scholarship to obtain PhD degree in economics.

His thesis was on the economies of Gongli Canal. Then he returned to Khartoum to teach in the military faculty and the university.

Later on, he traveled to the USA in a military training in Fort Benning Academy, Georgia. He joined the Sudanese army in 1962. His first guerilla war experience was in the same year in the lines of the then Sudanese vice-president Joseph Laqo's southern movement.

Ten years later, Addis Ababa agreement was concluded in 1972 between Joseph Laqo and president Gaafar Numeiri.

The agreement allowed Garang to join the Sudanese army and he moved to live in Khartoum.

Sudan People's Liberation Army SPLM was founded by Garang in 1983, followed by the formation of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). Since then, SPLM engaged in several wars with successive Sudanese government till the signing of the recent peace agreement.

It also concluded a peace agreement in 1988 with the Federal Democratic Party (FDP) during the rule of As-Sadiq Al-Mahdi. Yet, the agreement was not put into action.

In 1990, SPLM joined the National Democratic Coalition (NDC) that was leading opposition in north Sudan.

During their meetings in London, they formulated the draft transitional constitution in 1992.

SPLM entered peace negotiations with the Salvation Government since 1997 till the early 2005.

The Kenya-hosted negotiations came up with a peace agreement that put an end to the Sudanese more-than-20-year civil war.

In February 2002, unity between SPLM and Sudanese National Coalition (SNC), headed by Brigadier Abdul Aziz Khalid, as an unprecedented step that got northern and southern political movements in the same ditch for the first time. Also, it worked for cementing its relations with various political trends, whether inside or outside the NDC, such as the People's Congress Party (PCP) led by Dr. Hassan El-Tourabi. Moreover, it maintained cooperation relations with the National Nation Party (NNP) of Al-Mahdi after withdrawal from the coalition.

With the peace agreement signed in 2005, Garang was appointed vice-president of Sudan in a 6-year transitional period after which the southerners' unity with or separation from Sudan will be put to referendum.

The last chapter of Garang's life was written in August 2005, when the Ugandan presidential helicopter that was taking him back home crashed in south Sudan. Rebellion Leadership In 1983, Garang was assigned to end a mutiny by a 500-soldier battalion in south Sudan. However the mutineers convinced him of their just cause and installed him their leader.

He formed the nucleus of SPLA, the military wing of the SPLM. In the same year, Garang led a rebellion against the Sudanese government after Numeiri's government re-divided southern provinces, which SPLM considered a breach of the peace agreements signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The situation worsened by the government's implementation of Islamic laws all over the country.

In response, Garang started his operations against the governmental forces from neighboring countries, including Kenya and Uganda.

In 1984, former Ethiopian president Mangisto Hila Miriam opened Ethiopian territories to Garang and allowed him to use the country's military warehouses and media means.

In fact, Garang has not only called for separation of the south, but also rejected putting the south within any federal framework. He called for Africanization of Sudan and cancellation of joint defense agreement with Egypt.

In 1986, Garang signed Kokadam Declaration with the government of Abdul Rahman Suwar Az-Zahab, in Addis Ababa.

However, tension rose again between the south and the government when Al-Mahdi came to office just a month after the signing of the declaration, which the new government rejected. In 1988, Garang signed a peace agreement with the FDP headed by Mohamed Othman El-Marghani.

Later, and after the salvation system under Omar El-Bashir took over, he joined the FDP and became deputy of El-Marghani.


Negotiations between the Sudanese government and SPLM did not make it till Al-Bashir signed Mashakus Protocol in July 2002, which gave the southerners self-determination right in a referendum to be conducted at the end of a 6-year transitional period.

The Protocol paved the way for other subsequent agreements concerning power and wealth sharing and security arrangements.

This was followed in January 2005 by signing a peace agreement in Nairobi, Kenya, by Garang and vice-president and head of governmental delegation, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. The following day, Garang swore in as first vice-president of Sudan and head of the south government.

The peace agreement put an end to the 21-year civil war between the government and southern rebels.

Garang's vision in his last book In his last book "Vision of a New Sudan and Rebuilding Sudanese State", Garang underlined the issue of adherence to unity for a new Sudan in terms of diversity and history.

He also tackled Sudan's problems at large, not only the south, religion-state relation and the need for building a national state.

He also illustrated NDC functions and the challenges facing it.
In this context, he spoke of the historical development of a multi-race Sudan co-existence and Islamic Front (IF) weakness.

Moreover, he reviewed the peace talks, spotlighting self-determination as a democratic right, federation as a political need and confederation as a direct response to IF rejection of separating religion and confederative state.

The book also includes a section on Garang's visits to Egypt in quest for relations and support for building peace.

The book concluded by annexes on Mashakus protocol and his speeches in the occasion of signing the comprehensive peace agreement and the 22nd anniversary of the SPLM.

There is no doubt that Garang was a key player in the Sudanese cause as history will always remember Garang as the first military and political leader in the south Sudan arena who had the military and political vision of Sudan's cause.

He was able to capitalize on the power vacuum of the central government in the south. Garang also worked for building understanding bridges and opening dialogue horizons with different political leaders in the north.
He managed to run south Sudan cause amidst different political currents at the Arab and African levels.
Of his last words:

"With this peace agreement, we are reaching the tip of the last hill in our tiring and painful climbing of peace heights".