Garang son sad to dig dad’s grave
Aug 05, 2005
JUBA, Friday – In accordance with Dinka tribal tradition, one of Garang’s sons, Chol, a 25-year-old fine arts student in Britain, dug up the first chunk of earth where his father will be laid to rest on Saturday.
JUBA, Friday – In accordance with Dinka tribal tradition, one of Garang’s sons, Chol, a 25-year-old fine arts student in Britain, dug up the first chunk of earth where his father will be laid to rest on Saturday.
“It is a shock, it seems like a dream,†he told reporters of his father’s sudden death, news of which sparked several days of deadly clashes between northern and southern Sudanese in Juba, the southern town of Malakal and Khartoum.
“Sometimes I wake up and find people weeping,†Chol Garang said. “I never thought I would ever be digging my father’s grave.â€
“He died a free man,†he said of his father, who spent two decades leading the mainly Christian and animist south in their struggle against the Arab-dominated Muslim government in the capital.
Thousands of southern Sudanese volunteers descended on a former military training ground Friday to help prepare a burial site for the revered ex-rebel leader (left) ahead of his weekend funeral.
Weeping women, stoic men and curious children converged at the site in the town of Juba near the state parliament, where furious construction was underway on a brick and mortar mausoleum to house Garang’s remains.
The guerrilla chief-turned-statesman was killed in a July 30 helicopter crash, less than a month after becoming Sudan’s new first vice-president under a landmark January peace deal that ended a 21-year north-south civil war.
His death triggered a wave of riots in Khartoum and several southern cities that left 130 people dead and raised fears about the future unity of Africa’s largest country.
“It is a shock, it seems like a dream,†he told reporters of his father’s sudden death, news of which sparked several days of deadly clashes between northern and southern Sudanese in Juba, the southern town of Malakal and Khartoum.
“Sometimes I wake up and find people weeping,†Chol Garang said. “I never thought I would ever be digging my father’s grave.â€
“He died a free man,†he said of his father, who spent two decades leading the mainly Christian and animist south in their struggle against the Arab-dominated Muslim government in the capital.
Thousands of southern Sudanese volunteers descended on a former military training ground Friday to help prepare a burial site for the revered ex-rebel leader (left) ahead of his weekend funeral.
Weeping women, stoic men and curious children converged at the site in the town of Juba near the state parliament, where furious construction was underway on a brick and mortar mausoleum to house Garang’s remains.
The guerrilla chief-turned-statesman was killed in a July 30 helicopter crash, less than a month after becoming Sudan’s new first vice-president under a landmark January peace deal that ended a 21-year north-south civil war.
His death triggered a wave of riots in Khartoum and several southern cities that left 130 people dead and raised fears about the future unity of Africa’s largest country.