Sudanese president to receive final report on Garang crash

Mar 17, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — A final report into the air crash that killed the former Sudanese First Vice President John Garang, should be presented by the end of March to the Sudanese president, the local press reported on Friday.

A villager cries as she mourns former SPLM leader John Garang in Kurmuk village, Blue Nile region of southern Sudan, August 4, 2005. (Reuters).

The national commission investigating the cause of the crash of a helicopter will present its final report to President Omar al-Bashir within the next ten days.

John Garang, died on his way to southern Sudan from Uganda after paying a visit to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. He died in a Ugandan presidential helicopter when it crashed in southern Sudan on July 30, 2005.

The rapporter of the national team said in a press statement that the helicopter crash that killed former southern Sudanese rebel leader John Garang was not due to a plot.

“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 on 13 February.

Garang’s death in a helicopter crash just three weeks after taking office in July sparked the worst riots in decades in the capital, claiming more than 100 lives in sectarian violence and stalling the peace deal he signed with the northern government to end more than two decades of 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.

On 14 March, Foul play has been ruled out in the helicopter crash that killed the late Garang. 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 said. “We have conducted our own investigation and are entirely satisfied that the crash was an accident.”

(ST)