Dr. Garang boards a presidential helicopter before the chopper crash in July 30, 2005. (Photo: Courtesy).

On this day in 2005, South Sudan’s revolutionary leader Dr. John Garang De Mabior travelled to Uganda to meet President Yoweri Museveni – a day before the veteran leader died in a fateful helicopter crash that has left a hole in the hearts of many South Sudanese.

Dr. Garang, then chairman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLA/M) and newly appointed First Vice President of Sudan, died only a few months after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended decades of civil war in Sudan.

Garang had phoned President Museveni on July 28, expressing a desire to discuss important matters related to the CPA, which provided a framework for governance and autonomy for South Sudan, culminating in a referendum for independence scheduled for 2011.

The newly appointed First Vice President of Sudan was keen on addressing issues concerning South Sudan’s future and its relationship with the Khartoum government.

During his two-day stay in Rwakitura, Garang and Museveni engaged in discussions about the implementation of the CPA and other regional issues.

According to an Al Jazeera documentary released in July 2023, Dr. Garang also held meetings with unidentified diplomats, arranged by Mr. Museveni at his ranch in Rwakitura.

Although specific details of their conversations remain scarce, historical information indicate that the two leaders addressed pressures from international actors regarding peace negotiations and governance strategies within Sudan.

Museveni later recounted that they discussed how external pressures from Western nations were influencing Garang’s decisions regarding the peace agreement with Khartoum.

On the next day of July 30, 2005, Dr. Garang was returning from the meeting in a Ugandan presidential Mi-172 helicopter, after having not taken the Sudanese presidential plane because he did not inform the Sudanese government of the Uganda meeting.

The helicopter went missing for more than 24 hours, prompting the Ugandan president to notify the Sudanese government, which then contacted the SPLM for information.

After several unverified reports concerning the situation, the office of then Sudanese President Omer Al Bashir confirmed that the helicopter had crashed into “a mountain range in southern Sudan because of poor visibility.”

It added that this resulted in the death of Dr. John Garang De Mabior, six of his colleagues and seven Ugandan crew members.

The bodies of the victims were found early on Monday of August 1, 2005, in rugged mountains running along the Sudanese-Ugandan border, and President Museveni said he would appoint a special panel to investigate the crash.

In addition, Museveni said Uganda had asked a foreign government to look into Saturday’s crash to definitively establish that it was an accident, and not the result of sabotage or terrorism.

But until this day, the real cause of the plane crash remains a mystery and no official investigation has ever established what transpired apart from the blame on the weather.

A week later, President Museveni threatened to close several local newspapers if they persist in publishing conspiracy theories about the death of Sudanese vice president John Garang.

Following the confirmation of the death of Dr. Garang, several hundreds of people went on the streets in Khartoum in protest on August 2005, resulting in the death of at least twenty people and the injury of hundreds of people, according to Sudanese authorities.

The protestors burnt office buildings and cars before the police used tear gas on the crowds in an attempt to evacuate them from the capital.

Following Garang’s demise, Amnesty International called for an independent, competent, and adequately resourced investigation into his death – saying that anything less will fail in the eyes of the Sudanese people.

“The participation of independent third parties in this investigation — such as the United Nations — is critical and would help ensure that the enquiry is not only independent, but is seen to be independent by the Sudanese people,” said Kolawole Olaniyan, then Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.