Preliminary report on Garang crash ready – Sudanese official

Dec 6, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — A preliminary report into a helicopter crash that killed Sudan’s vice president and former rebel leader five months ago is complete but yet to be made public, a government official said Tuesday.

The first report from the investigation into the July 30 crash of a Ugandan presidential helicopter carrying John Garang has been handed over to Transport Minister John Nasasira, who led the inquiry that includes representatives of the Sudanese government, the former rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, United Nations, United States, Kenya and Russia, said Joseph Matovu, Nasasira’s spokesman.

“The minister has the report but he has not yet made it public. I do not know when he will do so. I do not know the contents of the report but the data is still preliminary,” Matovu said.

Garang death in the crash in southern Sudan led to the killing of at least 130 people during protests in Sudan’s capital and in southern cities _ raising fears that a peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war could collapse.

The Sudanese government and Garang’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement quickly formed a team to investigate the crash and asked Uganda, Kenya, the U.S., Russia and the United Nations to help.

(AP/ST)