Sudan VP killed in crash

2005-08-01 06:50

Khartoum - A rebel official said Sudan's vice president John Garang, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was killed in a helicopter crash at the weekend.

Search crews reached the site early on Monday and found a body they believe to be that of John Garang, a UN official said.

Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Garang's helicopter since Sunday, and Uganda's president said it had crashed in bad weather in the border region between the two countries.

Search crews had reached the crash site on the Sudanese side of the border early on Monday and found a body they believed was that of Garang, a UN official in the Sudanese capital Khartoum said, citing information from people at the scene.

An official in Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army said that Garang's death had been confirmed. The official, in Khartoum, had spoken with SPLA leaders, who were meeting at their headquarters in the southern town of Rombeck.

Heavy blow

Garang's death would be a heavy blow to the January peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south in which some two million people died.

The 60-year-old former rebel, who was sworn in as vice president just three weeks ago, left on a flight from Uganda for southern Sudan at 17:30 Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.

Garang's helicopter had attempted to land in the New Kush region of southern Sudan but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed back south, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said early on Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.

The craft was heard near Pirre, a mountainous region near the Kenyan and Sudanese borders on the edge of a large national park, and was believed to have crash-landed, Museveni said. He added that the Kenyans had been asked to help in the search.

Contradictory

From Sudan, there were contradictory reports over the disappearance, although there was no word of foul play.

Sudanese state television reported on Sunday night that Garang's craft had landed safely, but communications minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat went on TV hours later to deny the report.

Garang, who earned a doctorate from Iowa State University, is seen as the sole figure with the weight to give southern Sudanese a role in the Khartoum government, which they deeply mistrust.

He also was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing.

Garang was sworn in as vice-president on July 9 - second only to his longtime enemy, President Omar el-Bashir.

He and el-Bashir were to work on setting up a power-sharing government and on elevating Garang's rebel troops to an equal status with the Sudanese military.

- AP