Northern and southern Sudanese clashed in Khartoum on Tuesday in a second day of violence sparked by the death of former rebel leader John Garang who helped end two decades of war in Africa’s largest country. The latest violence, in a Khartoum shanty town, came after at least 36 people died on Monday in some of the capital’s worst riots in years. Meanwhile, Garang’s grieving relatives and supporters paid their respects to him around a simple wooden casket in New Site, a small settlement in the southern Sundanese bush. On the international stage, diplomatic moves began to ensure the January peace deal Garang’s former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) struck with the government of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir would not unravel. The United States dispatched two top diplomats—Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Connie Newman, and Special Envoy to Sudan, Roger Winter—to the country in hope of encouraging a smooth transition within the SPLM to new leader Salva Kiir. Continental heavyweight South Africa has sent Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. There has so far been no suggestion of foul play in Garang’s death in the helicopter that went down in bad weather on Saturday. The SPLM has announced five days of mourning and said Garang would be buried in Juba, their regional seat, on Saturday. Seeking to confound predictions of a messy succession fight, the SPLM has moved swiftly to choose Garang’s deputy, Kiir, to formally succeed him. Analysts say Kiir may bring a more collegial style to southern politics which Garang had long dominated. ‘‘John Garang was a special person, very charismatic and visionary. He was different from Salva Kiir who is calm, composed and calculative,’’ said Kenya’s Lieutenant-General Lazarus Sumbeiywo Kenyan, chief mediator of the peace deal. ‘‘We hope he will be able to fit into Dr Garang’s shoes—he is certainly a leader in his own right.’’ Members of the SPLM and the Khartoum government—bitter enemies for over two decades—have vowed to keep the accord. A delegation from Khartoum, led by Federal Affairs Minister Nafie Ali Nafie, went to New Site on Tuesday. Garang’s wife Rebecca pleaded for calm. ‘‘I accept that God has come to collect him,’’ she told reporters in New Site. ‘‘It is just my husband who has died. His vision is still alive.’’ —Reuters
