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South Sudan leader on historic visit to capital
Huge crowds that organizers said topped one million people turned out to welcome south Sudanese former rebel leader John Garang to the capital on his first visit in more than 22 years. The Khartoum regime, which Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army fought for two decades in Africa's longest-running conflict, had used the state media to appeal for a massive turnout at the rally in Green Square on the outskirts of the capital. Cheering supporters climbed trees or stood on the top of vehicles to try to catch a glimpse of the former rebel leader who signed a landmark peace deal with the government in January.
"It is an occasion of peace," the acting speaker of the SPLM's legislative National Liberation Council, Gabriel Mathiang, told AFP, referring to the January peace agreement which paved the way for Garang's arrival in the capital. "It's an occasion to celebrate the new Sudan of democracy, justice and development. Things will be different," he said. Representatives of northern opposition parties which made common cause with the SPLA after President Omar al-Beshir seized power in a 1989 coup also turned out to welcome the former rebel leader.
"I hope this peace will bring freedom and democracy and raise the standards of living of the people. I am optimistic. There will be difficulties but we are confident the Sudanese people will overcome them." Under the terms of the peace accord, Garang is to become first vice president in the Khartoum government and head an autonomous administration that will run the south during a six-year interim period leading up to a promised referendum on independence. First Vice President Ali Osman Taha, whose job Garang is to take under the terms of the deal, led the official welcoming party at the airport. The former rebel leader then headed straight to the headquarters of the ruling National Congress where he was welcomed by Beshir. "It is a day of real peace," the president said after the two men met briefly. "Welcome to Khartoum. Welcome among your people. You will find the hearts of all the people of Khartoum and Sudan open to you." Garang congratulated the Sudanese people and said: "It's not my peace or the peace of Omar al-Beshir, but it is peace for all Sudanese people. "Peace has come and it will extend to all parts of Sudan -- north, south, east and west," he said referring to continuing conflicts with ethnic minority rebels in the western Darfur region and the eastern Kassala and Red Sea states. The two then shook hands and promised to work together for a better Sudan. Photographs of Garang, which the regime had outlawed through the long years of civil war, were put up on buildings around the capital with its full blessing. "Welcome Dr John Garang," read one poster. Below it was written "Social justice" and "freedom." The authorities organized a series of events in the former rebel leader's honour, including musical performances. Nearly a dozen heads of state and government were due to attend Garang's swearing-in Saturday, mostly from neighbouring countries. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Arab League chief Amr Mussa and US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick were also expected. Alongside the promulgation of the new constitution, the Khartoum regime is also to lift a state of emergency in force on and off ever since it took power, and free all remaining political prisoners.
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