JUBA, Sudan, AP – Sudanese leaders and the family of John Garang, the charismatic former rebel who led a 21-year civil war against the Islamic government before becoming vice president in a landmark peace deal, promised Saturday to keep peace alive.

In the southern city of Juba, where Garang”s funeral was held, speakers praised his leadership and promised to push forward with the peace agreement meant to achieve his dream of a peaceful, unified Sudan.

Later, friends and former enemies buried Garang on a hilltop, and his widow called on all Sudanese to maintain the peace agreement for which her husband had struggled.

&#34Dr. John wanted you to be united,&#34 Rebecca Garang told tens of thousands of mourners. &#34I will not miss my husband as long as you, the people of Sudan, are the watchdogs&#34 of the peace agreement.

President Omar al-Bashir and Salva Kiir Mayardit, who succeeded Garang as leader of the Sudan People”s Liberation Movement, promised Rebecca Garang they would continue moving toward peace.

&#34War has many heroes, but the heroes of peace are few. Garang is a hero of peace,&#34 al-Bashir said. &#34To mother Rebecca we say there will be no return to war. … We are moving toward a new Sudan full of hope for all of its people.&#34

He called Kiir to the podium and clasped his hand high in the air, a gesture identical to the one he made with Garang at the former rebel”s inauguration just four weeks ago.

Shortly after the burial, thousands of mourners rushed to the tomb, weeping and singing out: &#34Never surrender, never surrender!&#34

Garang”s death has raised fears about the survival of the January peace he struck with al-Bashir, which brought an end to the long war between the mostly Christian and animist south and the Muslim-led government of the north.

Garang”s daughter, Akoul, called on mourners Saturday to &#34ensure that the memory of my father and our leader is as strong and as phenomenal as his life.&#34

His charisma, and his strong-handed leadership style, was seen as one of the driving forces behind making the agreement work. On July 9, he became first vice president — the first step in the formation of a power-sharing government between north and south.

But Garang”s death in a July 30 helicopter crash in southern Sudan set off days of violent clashes in Khartoum and other cities — including Juba.

Hoping to put down suspicions among some southerners that Garang was intentionally killed, rebel and government officials quickly stated that the crash, which killed 12 other people, was an accident and initiated an investigation, bringing in the United Nations, Uganda and Kenya for assistance. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced Saturday a team of its investigators would also help.

Garang was flying in a helicopter belonging to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, his close friend whom he had been visiting in northern Uganda. Museveni angered Sudanese officials on Friday after suggesting the crash may not have been an accident.

&#34It may be an accident, it may be something else,&#34 Museveni said Friday. &#34Either the pilot panicked, either there was some side wind or the instruments failed or there was an external factor.&#34

Sudan”s government responded angrily, saying that raising premature questions on the cause of the crash would only damage the investigation.

&#34We hope that all parties, especially Uganda, would stop issuing statements which are not based on facts,&#34 Information Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdera told the official Sudan News Agency.