Investigators examines medical reports of Garang crash

Sept 11, 2005 (NAIROBI) — Investigators probing the death of former
Sudanese First Vice- President Dr John Garang are in Nairobi to
examine medical reports obtained by pathologists who visited the
scene of Garang’s death on 30 July, diplomats said.

The national investigation committee, which comprises a number of
international figures including US experts, chaired by Abel
Alier, arrived in the Kenyan capital on Friday to meet the
medical committee that examined the bodies of the crash
victims.

After receiving a report prepared by medical experts as well as
from the Russian manufacturers of the Uganda government-owned
helicopter in which Dr Garang crashed, the probe team said the
plane was in good condition.

“The crash did not appear to have been caused by any technical
malfunction,” Rudolf Temurazov, the director of Technical
Security for Interstate Aviation Committee was quoted as saying.

The team is in Nairobi to complete records pertaining to the
pathological records of the victims of the helicopter crash,
including identification, examination and post-mortem records of
the victims of the helicopter crash, the Sudan Embassy said in a
statement.

Garang and 13 others, including top security officials, mainly
serving under the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni died when
their helicopter crashed moments before reaching New Site in
Southern Sudan.

The chairman and the members of the investigation commission met
with some of the medical experts who travelled to the crash site
and identified, preserved and prepared reports of the post mortem
of the crash victims.

The medical experts confirmed the reports they had made under
oath before the chairman of the Commission.

Sudanese ambassador Sirajeddin Hamid, the rapporteur of the
national investigation committee, said in a statement to the
national news agency (SUNA) that the committee would receive the
report from Kenyan physicians and the Sudan People’s Liberation
Movement (SPLM), John Garang’s former rebel group.

Hamid explained that a joint team from Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and
US would analyse the data collected by different technical
committees from the crash site as well as the data recorded in
the two black boxes of the plane.

“It is to be noted that the Sudanese committee met with the
American Ambassador to Uganda Wednesday in the presence of the
Sudanese Ambassador to Uganda and agreement was reached on the
participation of the American delegation in the joint committee,”
the statement said

Alier and ambassador Hamid later paid a courtesy call to Rebecca
Garang, wife of late Dr. Garang de Mabior in Nairobi to brief her
on the progress achieved as well as on the existing cooperation
between all the concerned parties.

(PANA/ST)