Garang helicopter crash not due to plot – minister

Feb 13, 2006 (DOHA) — The helicopter crash that killed former southern Sudanese rebel leader John Garang was not due to a plot, the country’s foreign minister said Monday, citing the results of an ongoing inquiry.

“The investigations are still subject to secrecy, but the commission of inquiry has completely ruled out the hypothesis of a plot to kill John Garang,” said Foreign Minister Lam Akol during a visit to Qatar.

He said the results of inquiry into the July 30 crash on the Sudan-Uganda border would be made public at the end of February.

The historical leader of Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Garang died only days after moving to Khartoum to assume his new position as first vice president and was the emblematic figure of the January peace deal that ended 21 years of north-south civil war.

There was no indication of foul play in the crash that killed a total of 14 people. But many southerners had accused President Omar al-Beshir of engineering an assassination, citing the many air crashes that have killed leading regime figures over the years.

(ST)