Garang -- who just three weeks ago became Sudan's vice-president as part of a January peace accord hailed as a rare success for the continent -- died when a Ugandan helicopter he was travelling in went down in bad weather at the weekend.

Fellow former fighters, supporters and relatives gathered in New Site, a small settlement in the remote bush of southern Sudan, where Garang's body was laid out in a wooden casket with a flag draped over it on a bed in a modest room.

Scented charcoal burned under the bed. Outside, men in green combat fatigues sat under thorn trees, some holding rifles.

Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) announced five days of mourning starting on Tuesday.

Seeking to confound predictions from some of a messy succession fight, the SPLM also moved swiftly to choose a close Garang ally -- his deputy Salva Kiir -- to succeed him.