Truth must be told: Garang shouldn't be a sacrificial lamb at the expense of justice

When the late Garang died in a mysterious chopper crash in 2005, an investigation committee was swiftly established to investigate the nature of the death because people were suspicious of what transpired when the crash happened. The chopper crash was followed by a deadly riot in Khartoum and major Sudanese cities which resulted into the death of over one hundred people.

This was because people smelled a rat in Garang's death. To the surprise of the Sudanese masses, the investigation findings blamed the crash on pilot error. There was no much contradictory reaction to the result of the investigation committee until Madam Rebecca Nyandeng de Mabior dropped a bombshell that her husband was assassinated. But what raised an eye brow across the region was a dramatic remark by Former State Interior Minister Mr. Aleu Ayieny Aleu to Arabic daily Akbar Alyoum that:

- Garang didn't die in the presidential helicopter but in the military one
- That the three Western Ambassadors who met with the late Garang in Museveni's place should be investigated.
- That the pilot disagreed with the crew while they were in the air
- That he (Aleu) was blocked during the investigation which made him decide to resign silently
- That Garang was killed by those he considered his friends and allies

Aleu's remarks, although sensitive and subject to verification, validate some of the people's suspicions and conspiracy theories. His comments have not only been causing commotion because he pointed fingers to people he considered as possible suspects but also because he was a member of the investigation committee. Although this editorial does not agree with the manner in which Aleu made these revelations, we believe that the truth surrounding Garang's death must be told and therefore his remarks can lead to the bringing of justice. Garang shouldn't be a sacrificial lamb at the expense of justice. Justice must be done. A new investigation must be opened to investigate the new allegations.

Aleu's motive behind Garang's assassination claims

When Mr.Aleu made his claims, many people were surprised because he was a member of the investigation committee but he resigned quietly without announcing it. The questions that many people have been asking are:

- What prompted Mr. Aleu to make his claims until then while he kept silent when the results of the investigation were announced?

- Was he making those claims because of the wide spread speculation that he was among those on top to be removed (in a leaked reshuffle) because of incompetence?

- Was he making those remarks to make a hero out of himself so that he couldn't be removed?

Whatever those unseen and unverified motives are, Mr. Aleu has been raising an issue which is in the hearts of many people and therefore this editorial agrees with him that new investigations into Garang's death should be opened.

What this editorial doesn't agree as mentioned earlier is the manner in which Mr. Aleu made his claims. He would have cleared the people's doubts over the motive of his remarks if he had announced his protest at the time of the announcement of results of the investigation committee and also if he had announced the reason of his resignation from the commission at the time.

Mr. Aleu should also have presented his views to the SPLM Interim National Council for debate prior to his announcement. This could have not given SPLM an excuse to sack him and might have put him in a strong defensive position.

When Mr. Aleu made Garang's assassination claims, what came to the minds of many people is that he is a trouble maker because he is alleged to have been part of the group that engineered a near split in the SPLM in 2004 when the peace was about to be signed. However, Aleu might have been part of the 2004 group against late Garang because his position as a director of the demining organization he founded was given a man he considered very close to the late Garang.

Because of Mr. Aleu's association with those who were for the removal of Garang in the time of the signing of the CPA, many people viewed him as a betrayer. However, one thing that people cannot forget about him is that he has been an ardent freedom fighter who had been in the front line in most of the 21 years of war until he was wounded in the battle of Kapoeta in eastern Equatoria in the 1990s.

SPLM Interim National Council Motive behind Aleu's firing

The move by the SPLM Interim National Council to sack Mr. Aleu for claiming that Garang was assassinated cannot only be seen as an intimidation to suppress the truth about Garang's death but it can also be seen as an appeasement of aliens at the expense of the Sudanese justice. The Sudanese masses will be suspicious of the SPLM's hand in the case of Garang’s death because of sacking Mr. Aleu over his remarks. If the SPLM's motive behind the sacking of Mr. Aleu was to ease potential tension between the people of Uganda and Sudan, the best thing that could have served both sides better was to suspend Mr. Aleu and set up a committee to investigate his allegations. If the SPLM sacks its government officials who don't toe the party line, why didn't it (SPLM) sack the Sudanese Ambassador to the USA, Mr. John Ukec Lueth when he categorically denied there was no genocide in Darfur and Dr. Lam Akol for his persistent pro-NIF stance in the case of Darfur?

The ruling elites in Sudan and Uganda want to make the issue of Garang's death appear as Sudanese versus Ugandans ostensibly for fear of some mysterious hands in the cause of the death. The truth of the matter is that the common men and women on both sides of Uganda and Sudan want the truth to be told because they share the common pain about the loss. They want the truth to be revealed about the cause of the death not only because Garang was a leader that had brought hope to the region but also because some of the Ugandans and Sudanese died with Garang.

The show of solidarity by the Ugandan masses to their Sudanese counterparts can be seen in an editorial by the Daily Monitor in which it states "the government of Uganda and Sudan, with the involvement of the international community, should set up an independent joint commission comprising representatives from all the stakeholders to conduct a fresh investigation into Garang's plane crash and put to rest these sporadic claims of the deceased former vice president's assassination."

Finding the truth about the cause of the late Garang's chopper crash cannot make the people of Sudan go to war with the people of Uganda. The only fear might be the invisible hands in the cause of the crash. People want justice to be done in this case. Let us not sacrifice justice for the sake of those invisible factors that are suspected to have been behind the foul play. Justice must prevail!