John Garang

Garang's appointment is part of a January peace deal that shares power and wealth with long-marginalized southerners. He arrived triumphantly in the capital July 8 for the first time since the civil war began in 1983. He was welcomed by Bashir and by hundreds of thousands of ecstatic Sudanese.

Although Islamic law remains the basis of law, the interim constitution signed by the two men states it will not be applied in the mainly Christian and animist south, removes a requirement that the president be Muslim and allows women as well as men to pass on Sudanese nationality to their children.

The agreement provides for a coalition government, democratic elections within three years, with the south having a referendum on secession after six years.

The Japan Times Weekly: July 16, 2005
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