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PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni stayed away from the Saturday funeral of
Sudan Vice President John Garang because he was totally devastated.
After viewing Garang's body at Yei on Friday, the President returned
to Uganda the same day. He did not join other presidents at the funeral
service in Juba.
The Minister of Information, Dr Nsaba Buturo told Daily Monitor
yesterday that Museveni failed to attend the burial because he was
"totally devastated".
"So he thought it wise for him not to attend the burial. What he did
(paying last respects) was enough," Buturo said.
"Imagine a
situation where you have just been with someone, given him your
helicopter and manpower, then he just perishes like that. The President
is also thinking that supposing that happened to him. He has not yet
come to terms with the loss," Buturo said.
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HELLO: President Museveni waves to Arua
town residents as he returned from Yei in Sudan were viewed the
body of the fallen First Vice President of Sudan, Dr John Garang.
Museveni did not attend the burial in Juba. See story on Page 4.
PPU photo |
Museveni told mourners in Yei on Friday, where he paid his last
respects to the former rebel leader, that the helicopter crash in which
Garang was killed might have been due to other causes.
"Some people say accident, it may be an accident, it may be something
else," Museveni told mourners.
The comments raised eyebrows and
contradicted official explanations of the crash.
Sudan angered
His comments irked the Sudanese
government, diplomats and others in Sudan where there has been fierce
speculation that Garang was assassinated.
The Second Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Service, Mr
Henry Muganwa Kajura, represented Museveni at the funeral service.
South African President Thabo Mbeki, Kenya's Mwai Kibaki, Sudanese
Field Marshal Omar Bashir, Ethiopian Prime minister, Meles Zenawi, and
the former Kenyan President, Mr Daniel arap Moi, attended.
In a message he handed to the Sudan, Uganda said the people of both
countries have suffered considerably under the terrorist activities of
the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
"It is our hope and expectation
that together we can eliminate the scourge of terrorism so that the two
people can live peacefully together," a Ugandan government statement
read in part.
Anger over Garang's death and conspiracy theories are blamed for much
of the deadly violence in Khartoum and Juba that erupted after news of
the fatal helicopter crash broke.
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SPOKESMAN: Dr
Buturo |
The UN special envoy to Sudan Jan Prank told reporters in Juba on
Saturday ahead of Garang's funeral that there was no reason to think the
crash was anything other than an accident due to poor weather, darkness
and possible pilot error.
South Sudanese, who are convinced that the
crash was no accident, looted and vandalised businesses and property
owned by northern Arabs.
More than 110 people died in the capital alone.
The violence also
extended to towns in the south, including the capital Juba, where
rioters targeted northern Arab traders, forcing hundreds to flee to
Khartoum.
During the service at the church in Juba where huge tents
were erected in the compound to accommodate the mourners, Garang's widow
Rebecca, warned people who wanted to take advantage of her husband's
departure to divert the Southern Sudanese political struggle.
"The legacy of Dr. Garang was to fight for the rights of women and
the children," Rebecca said, "If they are mistreated I will be a
lioness."
Rebecca said: "What I want to tell you today is leaders come and go
but what is important what leader have you left behind".
She said she had hope in her late husband's successor, Salva Kiir and
Bashir to continue the peace process.
Tribute to helpers
Mr Peter Mabior, Garang's son
who was dressed in military uniform and stood at his mother's side, in a
moving speech named Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania as some of the countries
that helped his departed father to fight for the
southerners.
Hundreds of mourners, who were barred from entering the
church compound, crashed through the metallic barriers amid chaos and
wailing.
None of the presidents and foreign dignitaries was allowed to reach
the graveside near the parliamentary building in Juba for fear of the
commotion. Most diplomats rushed to the airport immediately Garang's
cortege left the All Saints Church compound for fear of an eruption of
violence by the charged crowd of mourners, who were prevented from
attending the service.
Garang's successor Salva Kiir said his government in Southern Sudan
and that of Khartoum, which he is part, will conduct "full
investigations" into the violence that claimed over 100 people after
Garang was pronounced dead.
Meanwhile, Salva Kiir Mayardit, the First Vice-President of Sudan and
the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), has
appointed Riek Machar as his deputy in both the SPLM and Southern Sudan
region.
The Al-Ittihadi (Democratic Unionist Party) website reported
the appointment.
Machar belongs to the Nuer ethnic community, the second largest
tribe, in Southern Sudan, after the Dinka tribe, which is the tribe of
the late Garang and his successor.
Last month before his death,
Garang appointed Riek Machar as supervisor of Western Equatoria
State.
Machar had disassociated himself from Garang in 1991, and signed a
peace agreement with Khartoum in 1997, and was appointed assistant to
President Omar al-Bashir. Machar later resigned from his position and
rejoined Garang as his deputy. Kiir was expected to be sworn in
today.
Additional reporting by Jane
Nafula | 
