Sudanese VP Killed in Aircraft Crash
01/08/2005| IslamWeb
Sudanese Vice President John Garang, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, died when the aircraft he was traveling in crashed into a southern Sudan mountain range in bad weather, Sudan's government said Monday.
Thirteen others aboard the craft were also killed, an official statement said. The crash site was found near the Uganda-Sudan border, a Ugandan official said.
Ugandan officials said Garang and the others were flying in one of President Yoweri Museveni's personal helicopters, but the Sudanese statement said it was a plane. The conflict could not be immediately reconciled. Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Garang's aircraft since Sunday.
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 5:30 p.m. Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.
Garang's aircraft 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 Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.
Sudanese have celebrated the power-sharing agreement — and a new constitution signed afterward — as opening a new chapter of peace and as a chance to resolve other bloody conflicts in Sudan, including the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur. Garang was also seen as a great hope for peace in Darfur.
Salva Kiir, the vice president of south Sudan who was also Garang's deputy, said from his office in Nairobi, Kenya, that he ordered the former rebel movement's leadership council to hold an emergency meeting. He said the group will continue with Garang's policies and remain committed to the peace agreement.
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