Garang’s body arrives at SPLM HQ in southern Sudan

CAIRO, Aug 1 (AFP) — The body of Sudanese Vice President and southern leader John Garang, who died in a weekend helicopter crash, was brought to his former headquarters in the town of New Site, an official said.

“The remains of Doctor Garang have arrived at the leadership compound in New Site” in southern Sudan, a few miles from the crash site, near the borders with Kenya and Uganda, the official told AFP by telephone.

He said the remains were recovered from the wreckage and brought to the local headquarters of Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) in the town.

New Site is where Garang lived for several years before recently moving to Khartoum, following the January signing of a peace agreement that ended 21 years of a bloody civil war against government forces.

Garang’s widow Rebecca told Sudan Radio Service that arrangements for her husband’s funeral will be made after consultations with the SPLM.