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John Garang
The economist-turned-rebel who fought Khartoum for two decades, then died three weeks after signing peace.
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The rise
Born in 1945 in southern Sudan, Garang earned a PhD in agricultural economics in the United States before returning to found the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army in 1983, taking command of the south's rebellion against the Khartoum government.
What they did
He led the SPLA through Africa's longest civil war, negotiated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement of January 2005 that ended the fighting and set South Sudan on the path to its 2011 independence referendum, and briefly became Sudan's First Vice President.
The full picture
His forces were accused of massacring civilians and rival Nuer factions during a bitter 1991 split within the SPLA, and his vision of a unified, secular "New Sudan" was largely eclipsed by the separatist drive that followed; he died in a helicopter crash just three weeks into his vice presidency, a death still shadowed by conspiracy theories.
Why it matters
Garang's peace deal made South Sudan's independence possible even though he never lived to see it, and the contested legacy of his "New Sudan" vision still shapes the country's unresolved politics.
“I and those who joined me in the bush and fought for more than twenty years, have brought to you CPA in a golden plate.”