New Sudanese first vice president to be sworn in Sunday

KHARTOUM, Sudan, Aug 6, 2005 (AP) — The new leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement will be sworn in as the country’s first vice president on Sunday, Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper reported on Saturday.

Salva Kiir Mayardit was named SPLM leader last week following the death of John Garang de Mabior in a helicopter crash in southern Sudan.

Under the comprehensive peace agreement that brought Garang to the presidency just one month ago, the SPLM leader also serves as first vice president and president of southern Sudan, with the president’s approval. President Omar al-Bashir endorsed Kiir on Thursday.

Government spokesman and Information Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdera said in a statement that Kiir would come to Khartoum after Garang’s funeral on Saturday. On Sunday “he will be sworn in and discharge his duties from the Republican Palace,” the pro-government newspaper reported.

Garang, who took office July 9, had been working with al-Bashir and Second Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha to establish a national unity government by Aug. 9.

Sabdera said there would be a short delay in the formation of the government depending on arrangements related to the government of southern Sudan, which Garang had been working on at the time of his death. He said Kiir would return to Rumbek in the south to complete those arrangements after the inauguration.

Garang and 12 others were killed July 30 in a helicopter crash that the Sudanese government and SPLM say was an accident, though an investigation is planned. The United Nations, Kenya and Uganda — who provided the helicopter — were participating in the probe.