Govt officials on crashed plane
2008-05-02 19:22
Juba - Southern Sudan's minister of defence and another government official were killed on Friday in a plane crash, southern government officials said.
Dominic Dim, the south's defence minister and minister of
SPLA affairs, and Justin Yak, a presidential adviser for local
government affairs, were on the plane that crashed near the
southern town of Rumbek, the officials said.
Deng Goc, a spokesperson for the Southern People's Liberation
Movement (SPLM), confirmed that Dim had been on the plane but
could not confirm if Dim had died.
Yak's wife was also killed in the crash, a government source
said.
The former southern rebel SPLM signed a 2005 accord with the
northern National Congress Party (NCP), ending Africa's longest
civil war.
The accident comes a day after southern army officials said
Sudan's northern and southern forces had agreed to withdraw from
an oil-rich border flashpoint where clashes in the last month
have killed dozens.
The clashes in Unity state, near one of Sudan's largest oil
fields, could disrupt a 2005 north-south peace deal that ended
Africa's longest civil war, shared wealth and power, and created
separate northern and southern armies.
The UN said the plane was a Beechcraft 1900 operated by
South Sudan Air Connection travelling from Wau to Juba with 21
passengers on board. The United Nations said it had sent a
helicopter to the crash site.