Death of Garang and Tortoise Wisdom 
                22/08/2006

            By: Taban lo Liyong 

30th of July 2006, was first anniversary of the death
of the SPLM/A leader First Vice President of the
Republic and President of the Government of South
Sudan, Dr. John Garang de Mabior Atem. As we all know,
the late perished in a helicopter crash along the
Uganda-Sudan border under mysterious circumstances.

After his death, tempers were high. Spontaneous
reactions to this tragic act flared up in Khartoum and
Juba causing loss of lives and destructions of
property. Things could have gone worse had the SPLM/A
leadership not stepped in to cool down tempers.

One of the heroine, was the late's Widow Commander
Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior. She said the death was an
accident. She had to say this because there were very
many theories concerning the death. Some of these
theories attributed the crash to conspiracies. And,
whether it is the death of President John Kennedy of
the United Stated, or that of President Samora Machel
of Mozambique, or our own Southern Sudanese President
Dr. John Garang, there are always conspiracy theories.
Some of them are wild and off the mark. Others are
more plausible.

But all said, the human mind is always ready and able
to produce all sorts of speculations regarding what
happened, how it happened, who caused it, and why
he/they did so. To lay these theories to rest, the
exact cause of death needs to be established. And high
level investigation committees are established.
Sometimes
the reports of the committees clear the air and we
believed. Sometimes, they are not and the case remains
alive, its file not fully closed.

This is the case with President John Kennedy's death.
Though a killer was produced, many people believed
there was more than one; but the committee found it
difficult to locate the other killer or killers.
Sometimes, as with the case of Samora Machel, the
killers tell the story at a later time in another
country. With the late Dr. John Garang's case, reports
have been issued, one in Uganda, and the other in the
Sudan.

Yesterday Mama Rebecca said, as far as the family is
concerned, the investigation should continue. She
cited the Dinka tradition whereby if your cow died in
mysterious circumstances, you could spend four other
cows in order to establish the true cause of death.
Loss of more property, expenditure of more wealth in
search of the truth overrides all other
considerations.

So, it looks as if "death by accident" that the fresh
widow pronounced last year in the wake of Dr. John
Garang de Mabior death was a stateswoman's courageous
and
nationalistic act to save the nation from further
bloodshed. Or worse. And in the course of the year she
may have heard reports that indicated that her husband
might have been "Accidentalized" rather than died from
human error or mechanical malfunctioning of the
helicopter belonging to the President of Uganda. Now,
that opens the way for more speculations, more rumours
and more conspiracy theories.

I would like to take liberty from my readers to also
report some theories that Tortoise's small holes which
pass for ears have heard. The holes that serve the
tortoise for ears are tiny. So they may not hear well,
or hear all. The tortoise, being a slow walker, would
not cover much distance. But once the tortoise has
retracted its feet and head inside its carapace, it
engages in speculations. With this case, of death,
death of an important person, I hope tortoise will
treat it with the seriousness and solemnity it
deserves.

First of all, the late Dr. John Garang de Mabior was
the sworn First Vice President of the Republic of the
Sudan. He was no longer leader of the SPLM/A. He
occupied the second highest post in the Sudan. This
trip he undertook. Was it official? If it was, why did
he not use the Sudan's Presidential plane, complete
with protocol officers and security clearance and
security accompaniment? Whoever advices for this
ill-fated trip, to be undertaken in "secret" and
"unofficially", whoever prevailed upon Dr. John Garang
de Mabior to use the UN plane for going outside the
Sudan, and President
Yoweri Museveni's helicopter to fly him back at that
late hour - I say whoever, singly or collectively
prevailed upon Dr. John to do these things need to be
questioned. In conspiracy theories, the events that
took place before the main events should come under
scrutiny.

Reports have also reached the tiny ears of tortoise to
the fact that a female white, perhaps a journalist or
a confidante, had told Dr. John not to undertake this
journey, or if he did so he was to return in the same
plane. Who was she and what else did she know? What
more does she know now that the worst has happened?

Dr. John Garang, apart from five bodyguards, did not
take with him senior members of SPLM/A. Why? Were
there some who were asked and refused to go? What were
their reasons? What did they know? For, perhaps they
could have helped him decide rationally about
returning to the Sudan so late, or going away under
cover of secrecy. Unless Dr. John Garang had been
advised to go alone to a boardroom meeting in the
night of the long knives. And who then asked him to
travel alone?

We hear that SPLM/A security in Uganda had a news
blackout on this journey. Whatever attempts they had
tried of making contact with their leader in Uganda
were to no avail. Besides, his friends and former
University of Dar Es Salaam colleagues with whom he
used to go to visit the President of Uganda at his
ranch were not able to do so this time. Why?

The UNMIS has to answer too, why did they fly the
First Vice President of the Sudan out of the Sudan,
when they did, from New Site where there is no
immigration post or security clearance? Remember the
Garang they were smuggling out of the Sudan was no
longer the erstwhile rebel leader who used to flit in
and out of the Sudan at will.

It has also reached the ears of tiny tortoise that at
the Ugandan's Presidential ranch there were some
Americans, perhaps two or four, who participated in
some of the deliberations the two Presidents held.
Now, what transpired in the talks? Is it true that the
SPLM/A leader had asked Uganda's President for arms
that had come to it, as they used to do, through
Uganda? Is it true that President Museveni, not
amused, but simply irritated asked his guest what
SPLM/A needed those sophisticated arms for? Implying
perhaps that Ugandan army could make better use of
them than SPLA? Is it also true that the SPLM/A had
gone to ask for some money for which he or the
movement was entitled? And, that he needed this money
for paying his soldiers and paying for their uniforms?
What might have been President Museveni's response to
this request for money? Was he paid? Does Museveni
still owe the SPLM/money? And Arms?

If there were contentious issues at the ranch, the
Americans - or whoever those Whites were - should tell
us. For they would strengthen some theories as well as
deflate others. For, if the stork pushes his bill
inside the open mouth of the fox, he should call
himself lucky if ever his bill was not bitten off or
his whole head severed.

This other rumour comes from Khartoum. That after
signing of the Nairobi CPA one of the major architects
returned home and was visited by a handful of his
confidantes. He, an NCP politburo member deliberated
with them on what to do with the First Vice President
of the Republic, Dr. John Garang de Mabior. The two
questions before them were: - Should Dr. Garang be
killed? Should Dr. Garang be left to live? Two voted
for immediate elimination. Three voted for no. Or not
yet. So he was left to live. For how long? When Dr.
John Garang de Mabior had died they are said to have
met again in the same venue. And the host was
congratulated on the good job well-done.

Rumour has it that he host's wife overheard their
boisterous jubilations in the midst of a national
calamity. She broke up their jubilations and drove the
co-conspirators out. She was so worked up that she had
to be sent abroad to receive medical attention, and
calm her nerves.

If such a woman really exists, then she deserved a
better man. She came from a holy family. May her
father and mother be blessed! May she win respite for
herself and her relatives from Allah for whatever sins
they may have committed! For her cat was not Arabic,
not Islamic but simply human and holy under any and
all religions! We may not have holy men. At least we
have holy women.

Another rumour from the streets of Khartoum was that a
high official of the security organs had made a
secret, overnight flight to Kampala, one or two nights
before Dr. John Garang de Mabior made his trip. And
this high official is said to have met with a very,
very high official of Ugandan government. What was
this mission for? Did it have any connection with Dr.
John Garang de Mabior's death?

Going back to Kampala, when it was already late in the
evening, why did Dr. John Garang de Mabior not spend
the night in the ranch? Surely there are many beds
there and Presidential suites as well. Why did
President Yoweri Museveni shove his guest out into the
night when they could have spent the evening
reminiscing over their university of Dar Es Salaam
days?

Numerals seem to be a problem in Entebbe Airport. Did
the helicopter have 14 passengers? Or 15 passengers?
There is an elusive lady passenger, perhaps a security
officer, perhaps a hostess, perhaps both. This (or
some other passenger who was not in the plane from the
ranch) seems to need some investigation. If she/he
existed. For, where did she/he emerge from? What was
her mission, if things finally went bad after her/his
entry into the plane?

The pilot was refuted to be the best. Under normal
conditions he would have manoeuvred the plane safely
under any climatic conditions. Was he served some
drugged drink? Were the corpses of all the dead tested
for the presence of drugs and poisons? Especially the
pilot. Even car drivers get tested.

Come to Khartoum. During that week-end, after the
accident, a high official of the SPLM/An assured
everybody that Dr. John Garang was safe and sound in
one of the camps in the Sudan. He needs to explain to
all the source of his information. Is it possible that
the helicopter was hijacked to a certain location
before flying off again? Is it possible that the late
Dr. John Garang de Mabior now suspected something was
amiss, as he seems to have been landed in a location
that had resembled new Site?

Now we are in the realm of speculations. A crash takes
place. Parts of people are found. Dr. Garang's remains
or parts of them, are identified by their iron pen he
carried, they say his briefcase was found, perhaps
intact. Is it possible that he had hurled it out of
the plane? Is it possible that when the pilot was not
going to the right destination, a scuffle might have
ensued in which the President of South Sudan was shot
dead. Then the SPLM/A guards decide that nobody in the
plane would benefit from this, the speculations go?
With that decided, they would then have blown the
plane up? As dutiful bodyguards are supposed to do
when they have failed to guard the person they were
employed to guard?

A crash takes place. The foreign surveillance
organizations spot it, they say by ringing one of the
Thoraya phones on board. Whose phone was it which
decided to mysteriously remain undestroyed? Could not
planes belonging to the same country or organization
or associated to them, have taken a fifteen minute
dash, bombed the plane and returned to base? Or those
infernal machines that whirl in the air day and
night? Or those which could be fixed from the Indian
Ocean are directed at this fated helicopter.

A crash occurs. And these organizations go the site.
What did they find" Who did they find on the scene?
Was there money? Were there guns? Apart from the
Thoraya, was there a briefcase? Was the first trip
done with members of the family of the bereaved, or
senior security officials of SPLM/A? Did they notice
anything amiss, like indications of an earlier
arrival?

Now the wildest of speculations? Is it true that Osama
Bin Laden is in South Sudan? And that he sometimes
operated with the LRA? And at others with the Mbororo?
For the LRA had been guests of the government of Omer
Al Bashir. And Bin Laden too had been a guest of the
Sudan? Perhaps once a guest always a guest? And two
guests of the same host can live and work together?

People say too that when the Mbororo came to Juba they
headed straight to the Military barracks. But wanted
very much to cross to the eastern bank of the Nile. Is
it possible that they were on a mission to move with
Bin Laden under camouflage to the Eastern bank, and
had brought him all the way to Juba, dressed up as an
Mbororo herdsman? And from here the Sudanese army
might have conveyed him to the Eastern bank both to
hide him and for him to await for the right
opportunity to waylay Dr. John Garang de Mabior? To
keep him: target shooting? For, farfetched as it is
some people speculate that Osama Bin Laden could have
killed Dr. John Garang de Mabior. And that the reason
why he could not be located in the hills of
Afghanistan was because he was hiding in the hills of
Southern Sudan?

The persons in Uganda to be suspected are the airport
authorities. Were there any unauthorized people who
had access to the helicopter? Were there any
suspicious parcels conveyed to the plane, especially
those hurried gifts handed over before take off? This
speculation even touches on the Vice-President of
Uganda who saw Dr. John Garang off.

Many years ago when President Idi Amin was ruling
Uganda, and had become very unpopular with the
international community, he then invited Mr. Bruce
Mackenzie, a white businessman and a former minister
in the Kenyan government of Mzee Kenyatta, to come for
a visit to popularize trade between Uganda and Kenya.
Mackenzie and team came. Their pilot stood guard
around the place till they had returned from their
deliberations; Bruce Mackenzie was escorted to the
airport. Shortly before climbing onto the plane, a
petite Ugandan lady, perhaps in airport uniform, ran
to Bruce with a gift of Uganda pineapple. She said it
was for Mrs. Mackenzie from the Ugandan President.
Bruce accepted the pineapple from the "buffoon" Amin.

When the plane had reached Ngong hills, upon radioing
the airport for landing, the time bomb in the
pineapple exploded killing Bruce Mackenzie and
entourage. (Perhaps the first time Kenyans are hearing
about the cause of Bruce Mackenzie's death? My
condolences to the bereaved families!)

Was there ever any gift given to Dr. John Garang
before he flew away, by anybody in Entebbe airport,
like the hurried one given to Bruce Mackenzie?

After touching on the Vice President of Uganda, I also
have to report why the Nilotic Ugandans suspect
President Yoweri Museveni of having a hand in the
death of Dr. John Garang. Yoweri has come out as the
architect king-to-be of a Great Lakes Bantu kingdom
embracing (Rwanda where his ancestors came from),
Burundi, DRC, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya etc. The rise of
this kingdom is supposed to be done against the
possible rise of other kingdoms. Especially Nilotic
one. Now with Dr. John Garang in the Sudan, supported
by the Luo of Kenya and Northern Uganda and especially
with the oil wealth in Southern Sudan, the Ugandan
opponents of King Yoweri Museveni dream of a Bantu
kingdom, fear that Yoweri might have nipped
in the bud the rise (or possible rise of) a Nilotic
kingdom, or international Nilotic cooperation.

They also say, King Yoweri Museveni helps you when you
are weak. But when you are strong, like Joseph Kabila,
he does you in. And if he could help Kabila to
disappear, so they say why would he not do it to Dr.
John Garang de Mabior? After all, the First Vice
President to be of Rwanda and his whole cabinet had
perished upon arrival at Kigali airport. And his
successor a Museveni former crony does not see eye to
eye with him anymore.

Now you have seen how many theories there are. And how
ramified they are? How bizarre some of them are? I am
sure if Mama Rebecca has heard these and many more,
she would insist that they be singled and the true one
revealed. Even if 20 cattle have to die in the course
of truth.

I hope I have not muddied the waters worse than they
already were. But when a President dies, rumours fly,
conspirators spin many theories their futile minds are
capable of manufacturing .

All said, my condolences to the families of Dr. John
Garang de Mabior who have not only to live with the
loss of their departed dear one. But also to live
under clouds of conspirational explanations of how
their beloved father, husband, nephew, uncle died.
And I am with Mama Rebecca. The truth must be
known.The tortoise report you have read is my
contribution to the search for the true cause of the
death of Dr.John Garang de Mabior, his guards, the
Ugandan pilot and his officials. Truth will always
come out. Even if it takes 20 years! And 20 cows!

*Death of Garang” was added to the original short
title, “Tortoise Wisdom”, by Ed.

    Late Garang