UN mission in Sudan to join probe on Garang crach

Supporters and relatives pray in the room where late John Garang’s body is laid out in New Site village in Southern Sudan August 2, 2005. (Reuters) .

KHARTOUM, Aug 12, 2005 (Sudan Radio Service) — The United Nations Mission in Sudan, UNMIS, will join the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) in the investigation into the death of John Garang in a helicopter crash on 30 July.

The spokesperson of the special representative of the UN secretary-general to sudan, Radhia Achouri, told a press conference in Khartoum on Wednesday 10 August that the UN is ready to assist in the investigation into Garang’s death.

Sudan Radio Service correspondent in Khartoum, Nichola Mandil, quotes Achouri as saying that the special representative of the UN secretary-general to Sudan, Jan Pronk supported the views of the SPLM that the investigation commission should include external actors in order to dispel any possible doubts regarding the results of the investigation.

She said that Pronk had advised that such a commission be established and it should conclude its work as soon as possible in order to end the speculations about the helicopter crash that killed Garang.