KHARTOUM, Aug 4: The death toll from days of rioting triggered by the death of John Garang hit 130 on Thursday as throngs of south Sudanese paid tribute to their revered former rebel leader on the journey to his final resting place. Garang’s successor as leader of the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, Salva Kiir, was appointed to take his place as first vice president in a power-sharing government set up under a January peace deal, as international pressure mounted to prevent the hard-won agreement unravelling.

The streets of Khartoum were quieter after the frenzy of ethnically-driven violence that erupted following Garang’s death in a helicopter crash on Saturday that has raised fears for the future of the war-ravaged country. Heavily armed Sudanese police and soldiers continued to patrol central Khartoum, while the sight of smashed shop windows and burnt-out vehicles on the streets bore witness to the tensions between southerners and northerners.

Residents reported that even in the shantytown suburbs where the clashes between mainly Christian or animist southerners and Muslim northerners had been most intense, an uneasy calm had returned. However, a few men armed with clubs continued to roam the streets in the suburbs worst hit by the violence.

“Our latest toll is 130 dead and 402 wounded, including 111 dead and 345 wounded in Khartoum and 13 dead and 20 wounded in Juba and six dead and 37 wounded in Malakal,” said Larena Brander, spokeswoman for the Intertional Committee of the Red Cross.

The international community issued urgent appeals for calm, fearing the death of the former rebel leader could plunge Africa’s largest country into fresh turmoil. In a bid to ease tensions, Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir announced on Wednesday the establishment of a committee to probe Garang’s death.—AFP