Darfur rebel SLA leader charges Garang victim of ‘conspiracy’

CAIRO, Aug 1 (AFP) — The helicopter crash that killed Sudanese First Vice President and southern leader John Garang was not an accident, Darfur rebel leader Abdel Wahed Mohammed Ahmed Nur told AFP Monday.

Southern Sudanese women mourn the death of Sudan’s former rebel leader and First Vice-President John Garan in Nairobi August 1, 2005. (Reuters).

“John Garang’s death is a big loss for the new Sudan forces and for all the Sudanese people,” said the leader of the main rebel group in Sudan’s western Darfur, the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army.

“But I believe this was the result of a big conspiracy against the Sudanese people… Personally, I don’t believe in an accident,” he said.

Nur did not specifically blame the regime of President Omar al-Beshir but political opponents and observers have often attributed the deaths of prominent Sudanese political and military figures in air crashes to the regime.

Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army fought against government forces for 21 years in a civil war that killed an estimated two million and ended in January when he signed a peace deal with Khartoum.

Nur’s SLM/A had close ties with Garang’s movement and is believed to have received its support since it launched an uprising against Khartoum in February.