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In Tense Sudan, Divisions Resurface
Sudanese boys run from police after looting a store in the main market area of Juba.
(Michel duCille)
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In different corners of Juba, the division of opinion on Garang's death was as wide as the Nile.
Many southerners said they were convinced that the fatal crash was not an accident in bad weather but a plot to weaken the former rebel movement, cause ethnic chaos and deflect attention from the government's autocratic hold on power. Many northerners rushed to take the government's side, partly in exchange for protection from attack.
The government announced that it would deploy a large force of elite troops here during Garang's funeral, which is to be attended by President Omar Hassan Bashir, as there were fears the event could spark new violence. Meanwhile, Garang's body was being flown to various cities in the south so mourners could pay respects.
On Wednesday, armed members of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, Garang's former rebel group, arrived to help government forces restore calm -- and to protect the group's leaders.
Some analysts said they saw the government's military move as a warning to other brewing rebel movements, especially in the troubled western region of Darfur, where 2 million people have been displaced in a separate conflict.
"The mood of the country is manipulated in this divide-and-rule fashion," said Ollie Dinar, an African scholar in Khartoum. "Sudan's government has once again won. The people are now attacking each other instead of the government."
Dinar said images of southerners burning and looting have been played repeatedly on government television stations, provoking Arabs in Khartoum to fight back.
Whether calm will return, no one is sure.
The abrupt shift from peace to chaos began Sunday, as news spread that Garang's helicopter had crashed en route home from an official visit to Uganda.
In Juba, a group of Arabs lowered the rebel flag and called out to southerners, "Your man has died," said Joseph Abuk, 47, a teacher.
"There were extremely sarcastic and painful comments made," Abuk said. He said the years of civil war had created a deep "lack of trust between us Africans and Arabs. When it comes to the death of Garang," he added, "people are going to go beyond the simple appearance of issues."
Soon, he recounted, young followers of Garang went to the market with sticks and guns. In a "spontaneous burst of anger," he said, they started "burning everything." Arab merchants jumped into buses and fled to army facilities for protection.
