SPLA rebels deny involvement in plane crash in southern Sudan

NAIROBI, Nov 18 (AFP) — A spokesman for the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) said Tuesday that rebel forces were not involved in the crash of a Sudanese cargo plane in the southern Sudanese city of Wau, in which 13 people died.

“The crash is purely an accident,” SPLA spokesman George Garang told AFP by telephone in Nairobi on Tuesday.

“We are still observing a strict ceasefire and therefore our forces, which are some 36 kilometres (23 miles) south of Wau, were not involved in the accident,” Garang said, when asked whether SPLA forces were involved in the crash.

The state-run Radio Omdurman reported Tuesday that an Antonov 12 cargo plane on a routine flight from Khartoum exploded Monday while preparing to land at Wau airport.

The plane was carrying food and money and, after obtaining permission to land, exploded in the air about four miles (6.5 kilometers) from Wau airport, the radio said.

The plane was owned by the private Khartoum-based Saria Airlines company.

Wau is under the control of the Khartoum government, but is surrounded by SPLA rebels, who hold most of the south of Africa’s largest country.

Sudan plunged into civil war in 1983 when the SPLA took up arms against Khartoum to end domination of the mainly Christian and animist south by the Arabised, Muslim north.

More than 1.5 million people have been killed and more than four million people displaced in the conflict.

The government and SPLA have made dramatic progress toward ending the war during the last 15 months of negotiations in Kenya, with observers expecting a final settlement to be signed by the end of the year.