Sudan says Uganda uncooperative in Garang’s crach probe

Oct 26, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — The National Probe Committee (NPC) on John Garang’s plane crash will return to Khartoum next Sunday 30 October after having spent 27 days in Kampala without making any progress in the probe dossier because Uganda did not cooperate with it Sudan, the NPC rapporteur Siraj Eddin hamid said.

First Vice-President John Garang shakes hands with crew members as he boards an Ugandan helicopter at Entebbe International Airport on his way to meet Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni at his country home in Mbarara, western Uganda in July 29, 2005. (Reuters).

Siraj Eddin revealed that some important parts of the plane had disappeared from the site of the crash.

The probe team rapporteur noted that the Ugandan side was seeking to complicate the probe team’s work for unknown reasons. He said that the participation of the Ugandan team was weak to an extent and being carried out at a poor level.

The committee will again return to Kampala on 12 November.

In a press statement to the Khartoum based Al-Ray al-Amm, the rapporteur said that among the parts that went missing was a part which clarifies whether the plane had a device for maps or not and which also determines the altitude at which the incident took place.

He said that the concerned committee which visited the site of the crash for the first time photographed every part of the plane, among them the parts which had gone missing.

(ST)