With Sudan's confirmation on Monday that the rebel leader John Garang had died in a helicopter crash, this country's fragile peace plunged into the unknown. And angry southerners rioted in the capital, accusing the government of orchestrating his death just three weeks after he was selected as vice president.
Demonstrators cried, "Murderers! Murderers!" as they burned cars, threw stones, and in some cases physically attacked Arabs in the capital, Khartoum.
Meanwhile, with Mr. Garang's body lying in the next hut, southern rebels huddled in this remote wilderness outpost on Monday night, desperately working to salvage the historic peace agreement that their fallen leader struck with the Sudanese government this year.
The above is from Marc Lacey's "Death of Sudan Rebel Leader Imperils Fragile Hope for Peace" in this morning's New York Times. (And note the end credits scrawl: "Reuben Kyama contributed reporting from Nairobi for this article, and Steven R. Weisman from Washington.")Krista, Eli, Joan, Rachel and Brad have e-mailed on it and we're making it the spotlight entry.
Also in this morning's Times is Steven R. Weisman's "Bush's U.N. Agenda Is Well Under Way." Wally feels Isaiah summed it up "long ago" so at Wally's request an earlier The World Today Just Nuts appears at the top of this entry.
This morning's scheduled topic for Democracy Now! is:
Tues, August 2: We'll look at the death of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and thefuture of the oil-rich nation.
And note that tomorrow:
* Amy Goodman in Great Neck, NY:
Wed, August 3
*TIME: 7 PM
Hiroshima Day 2005:
From Hiroshima to Iraq
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