Even if his death was not due to foul play, there is suspicion stemming from how convenient it is for those who wanted to destroy the hopes for peace between northern Sudanese Muslims and southern Sudanese Christians, and to eliminate a chief obstacle to Sharia rule in the country. From Reuters, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
KHARTOUM/NEW SITE, Sudan (Reuters) – Northern and southern Sudanese clashed in Khartoum on Tuesday in a second day of violence sparked by the death of ex-rebel leader John Garang who helped end two decades of war in Africa’s largest country.
Authorities sent in police and helicopters to quell the violence in a shantytown on the south side of Khartoum following Monday’s riots in which at least 36 people died.
“There were some limited clashes in different places in the outskirts of the capital. Police have established control over these areas now,” State Minister for the Interior Ahmed Mohamed Haroun told journalists in Khartoum….
In an area about 18 km (12 miles) north of the capital’s center, he said two southerners were shot dead by angry northerners and fighting was still going on. In the south, he said a church and school compound were attacked in one area and 26 people were injured in another.
He said the attacks appeared to have been started by northerners after southerners took to the streets a day earlier. “Today, it is northerners who started,” he said….
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.
Two senior U.S. envoys were on their way to Sudan to encourage a smooth transition in SPLM to new leader Salva Kiir.
A delegation from Khartoum also went south to pay respects.
Garang, who just three weeks ago became Sudan’s vice-president in a peace deal hailed as a rare success for the continent, was killed when a Ugandan helicopter he was traveling in went down in bad weather at the weekend.
There has been no suggestion of foul play.