Two-years after Sudanese former rebel leader and former First Vice President Dr. John Garang de Mabior died in a helicopter crush in Southern Sudan after successfully completing a tour of Uganda, the cause of his death remains a mystery.

The former rebel leader died while returning to his stronghold town of Rumbek, aboard a Ugandan Presidential helicopter-Mi-172 after concluding talks with Uganda’s president Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.Initial reports on the accident were blamed on the weather or mechanical failure for the incident.

The death of Garang, casts dark clouds over the modernization of the Sudan’s autocratic regime of president Omar-al-bashir and the internal formation of the SPLM/SPLA leadership now under the command of Vice Chairman Commander Salva Kiir.

Salva Kirr has come under pressure for walking slow towards a complete modernization plan for South Sudan.

Dr. Garang had led up a 21-year civil war against the Northerners that left more than two million people dead and devastated parts of South Sudan forcing millions of people to exile.

The quest for self-determination against the predominately Islamic north led by president Omar-al-Bashir encouraged the former rebel leader to ascend and became the first-ever Christian to be appointed to the position of First Vice President in the Khartoum government, apposition which he held for only 21-days.
The Ugandan government formed a three-man team to investigate the circumstances surrounding the cause of the crash and make their findings public.

Two-years after the crush, the findings remain mystery which has prompted the Garang’s widow Commander Rebecca Garang to doubt the accident theory.
Uganda maintains that the military helicopter reserved for presidential travel was in good shape and is unlikely to have suffered any mechanical problems.

The death of Garang left a political edge in the South against the Northerners.
“While Dr. Garang has left behind a great and enduring legacy, his death has also left an enormous vacuum. This is the challenge to which we urge the Government of the Sudan and his comrades in the Movement to rise”, says Alpha Oumar Konaré, commissioner of the AU.

Dr. Garang took oath of allegiance in the New Sudan as First Vice president on July 9, 2005 officially ending 21-years of bloodshed and paved way for a new interim constitution.

The power sharing paved way for Garang to make a come back to the center of politics in Sudan. This marks his second time to work with the government. In the early 1980s, he was sent as an army officer to help suppress a mutiny in the south. Instead of ending the uprising, he took charge of the rebel troops and in 1983 launched a civil war to fight for self-determination for southern Sudanese.

The drive for his determination was to ensure the mainly Christian southern Sudanese kept control of the oil rich regions that were being controlled from the north.

The former rebels widow Commander Rebecca Garang has maintained that her husband (John Garang) was assassinated by forces working aganist him and with full knowledge of senior people in Khartoum and Kampala.

Speaking last month in Nairobi during an anverssary to mark two-years of Garang’s death, the widow affirmed that those behind her husbands death are ‘’Untouchables” and ruled out any process in the investigations on the crush.
Internal acrimony within the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M) is now evident and has threatened to tear the interim government apart.

The stability of the south from internally motivated rebellion over the adamant stand initially taken by Garang helped to hold the conflicting factions of the rebel group together. His arrogance enabled him to resist any internal opposition.

Garang, led the SPLM/A, which fought one of Africa's longest-running civil war between the Christian and animist south, and the predominately Muslim, Arab-speaking North, since early 1980s.

He held a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the United States spent his early and middle life in the bush leading one of Africa’s longest civil war that pitted the Christian South against the predominately Muslim North.

Born in 1945 into the southern Dinka group famous for worshipping the sky, playing music on ram's horns and their love of roast meat. He rose to be the leader of a rebellion, which left two million people dead, and many more displaced.

His family was Christian and he went on to study at the Grinnell College, Iowa, and later returned to the US for military training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

His first taste of guerrilla warfare was at the start of the civil war with the southern-based Anya Anya movement in 1962, which ended in a deal allowing the south to become a self-governing region. This allowed Garang and others to join the government army and moved to Khartoum.

His years on the helm were marred with confusion on central issues such as whether the SPLA was fighting for independence for southern Sudan or merely more autonomy.

By 1986 the SPLA was estimated to have 12,500 armed men, organized into 12 battalions and equipped with small arms and a few mortars, according to Sudan war experts.

By 1989 the SPLA's strength had reached 20,000 to 30,000 and rose to between 50,000 to 60,000 in 1991.

Today, the interim Southern Sudan government is undertaking a restructure plan that will see it cut its entire troop force by 25,000.

The remarks that Grang was assassinated are likely to spark fresh mistrust among factions within the government. Already the internal differences gave rise to militias who are opposed to the interim leadership.

It will be critical to consolidate the different functions and proceed with the current political arrangements that are geared to a complete inclusion of the south into the central government with appointments based on the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).

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