Foul play ruled out in Sudan’s Garang helicopter crash

Mar 14, 2006 (KAMPALA) — Foul play has been ruled out in the helicopter crash that killed Sudan’s Vice President and former rebel leader John Garang last July, an official of the company that insured the aircraft said Tuesday.

The Nigerian-owned National Insurance Corporation Ltd on Tuesday presented to the Ugandan government a check worth $3.4 million (A2.9 million) as compensation for the destroyed presidential helicopter.

“An insurer will not pay if he has doubts as to the nature of the accident,” National Insurance Corporation Managing Director Bola Ososamya told The Associated Press.

“We have conducted our own investigation and are entirely satisfied that the crash was an accident.”

Officials at the Ugandan Transport Ministry, which is responsible for any information on an ongoing probe into Garan’s death, were not immediately available for comment.

Garang’s 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.

(ST/AP)