Then Mr Garang's second-in-command, Riak Machar, tried to overthrow him, and the movement split.
Moreover, Mr Garang has confused his followers by both accepting and rejecting the Libyan initiative.
Now, the pits are gone and debate on the movement, even the shortcomings of Mr Garang, are commonplace.
Initially, reports of John Garang's death were very, very confused, and many people understood that he was still alive.
Just three weeks ago, John Garang was sworn in as Sudan's vice president.
In the bad old days, criticism of Mr Garang was punishable by imprisonment in a pit for several months.
They even persuaded Mr Garang to make some sort of an alliance with the opposition movements in northern Sudan.
It survived, but the price of survival for Mr Garang was that he had to open up his movement.
The riots began after the longtime leader of Sudan's southern rebels, John Garang, was confirmed dead in a helicopter crash.
But Mr Garang worked away at rebuilding his army and political ties.
That was the sort of grand coalition envisaged by John Garang, the SPLM's long-time leader, and it might well have unseated President Bashir.
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Ms. KING: President Bashir did send out a press statement this afternoon telling people to remain calm and saying that John Garang's death was a tragedy.
The Dr John Garang Memorial University, named in honour of the SPLM's former leader who died in a helicopter crash in 2005, was set up in 2008.
More than 100 people have been killed in Sudan this week in a wave of riots and ethnic clashes sparked by the death in a helicopter crash of John Garang.
Mr Thomas points out that the CPA survived the death of the southern leader John Garang in 2005, and the indictment of the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court in 2009.
The state's governor, Kual Juuk, a former guerrilla who was once close to Mr Garang, laments that the lavish development of the centre of Juba has been at the expense of the rest of the region.
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