Death of Sudanese leader Garang threatens peace accord News
Death of Sudanese leader Garang threatens peace accord

[JURIST] Former rebel leader John Garang [Wikipedia profile], who eventually made peace and joined the Sudanese government as a vice-president, died over the weekend in a helicopter crash, sparking riots and threatening to destabilize the region. Officials in Sudan said Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement [party website] leader Garang and 13 others died after the presidential helicopter he was traveling in crashed. Garang was the highest ranking official in the Sudanese government to ever came from the southern province or claim to be Christian and news of his death has reportedly prompted anti-Arab attacks. Earlier this year Garang played a large role as Sudanese officials ratified the January Peace Accords [JURIST report] between the now-autonomous South and the Khartoum government [official website] of the north. Sudan has declared a 12-hour curfew [Aljazeera report] beginning this evening in Khartoum as a result of the riots. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.