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Widow of Sudan's Garang Steps In to Continue His Mission
Rebecca Garang addresses mourners during a mid-August memorial to her husband in Nairobi, where she has a home. As soon as news of his July 31 death reached her, she began making press statements and speeches calling for calm.
(By Antony Njuguna -- Reuters)
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"Rebecca has been the one calming force," said William Ezekiel, an editor at the Khartoum Monitor newspaper. "She's a symbol of her husband, but she's also representing her own bravery and the hopes for peace without her husband."
During her husband's career, Rebecca Garang often stood by his side at public events, a striking figure with a crown of jet-black hair, dressed in bold West African prints. After his political speeches were over, she would make her own comments about the importance of girls' education or women's rights.
In fact, people close to her described her as no less politically savvy, determined and tough than her husband. She was a commander in the rebel army and was known to push her female soldiers so hard that they begged for breaks. She was also known to give rousing speeches to inspire her troops.
"She would tell us that we have to stand on our own two feet and fight," said Nunu Suwad, 28, a longtime friend and associate in the rebel movement. "She respected you if you worked hard."
Like her husband, Rebecca Garang traveled frequently to the West. The couple's six children were educated in the United States and Europe. In recent years, she helped start schools for war orphans and promoted the rights of female veterans of the rebel movement.
"She told us, 'I am with you. I will help you,' " Suwad said during the funeral, surrounded by weeping women as she spoke. "Women don't usually get much respect in our culture. But Rebecca has earned that for us."
Several months ago, Rebecca Garang visited Rumbek, the interim capital of southern Sudan, to lead a workshop for female veterans and an effort to retrain them for civil jobs.
"Rights are not given. You have to take them," she said in an interview that day. "We fought in the bush, and now that we have come back, we can't be treated the way we used to be. We can't make the mistakes we made in the old Sudan."
