Sudan blasts Ugandan claims of “unknown body” at Garang crash

KHARTOUM, Aug 10, 2005 (Sudan Tribune) — The Sudanese Foreign Minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail, has announced that the USA, the UN and the Russian Federation, Uganda and other states have expressed their readiness to assist the national committee set up to probe the plane crash of the late John Garang.

Pallbearers carry the coffin of late SPLM leader and first vice president of Sudan John Garang to All Saints cathedral for a funeral service in Juba, August 6, 2005 (Reuters).

In a press statement, he said an internal committee within the Foreign Ministry led by Ambassador Siraj al-Din Hamid had began collecting the required information and had prepared a big dossier containing statements and information available to the ministry.

Responding to a question on the statement by the Ugandan interior minister that there was a body whose identity was unknown on the plane wreckage, the minister said the remarks were strange, considering that the aircraft was Ugandan, had left Uganda and its crew were Ugandan nationals.

He said the names and the number of victims had been made public, adding Uganda should not spring surprises like the claim there was a new body. He said Uganda should review its information.