John Garang was a Sudanese leader and politician with a long and complicated political career. At various times he was a Marxist, then a Christian, then an agitator and rebel, then became part of the government. He would basically reinvent himself to be whatever he needed to be to acheive his overall mission, which seemed to be to have a representative government in Sudan that reflected all minority groups equally. His single greatest accomplishment was to give voice to the marginalized people of Sudan, and Africa in general. Make no mistake, this guy was no George Washington however. He was ruthless and dictatorial and would not tolerate dissent. He frequently had anyone who did not agree with him killed. At the time of his death on July 30th, 2005 he had become a willing member of the government and had been the lead Vice President of the country for only 21 days. On the day of his death, he was flying back to the Sudan on a government Russian-made Mi-172 military helicopter after a somewhat mysterious meeting with the president of Uganda that was not on his official schedule, and that the Sudanese government had no knowledge of. On the way back after the meeting, the helicopter crashed and he was killed, along with 6 other government members and 7 aircrew. Like all air crashes with famous politicians on board, rumors immediately started regarding the possibility of foul play, however the overwhelming evidence seems to be that the helicopter crashed due to bad weather, and the Sudanese government and the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA) agree with that explanation.
