Sudan’s Kiir urges southerners to remain calm following plane crash

Sudan’s Kiir urges southerners to remain calm following plane crash
298 words
3 May 2008
07:47 pm GMT
BBC Monitoring Newsfile
English
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Text of report by state-owned Sudanese news agency Suna website
The first vice-president of the republic and the president of Government of Southern Sudan [GoSS], Lt-Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, has called on southerners and the entire country to remain calm and accept the incident as it is, despite the huge shock, which resulted in loss of one of the outstanding GoSS members. He said that his government had decided to manage the crisis with wisdom and responsibility. [Following the death of Dr John Garang in a helicopter crash in 2005, southerners did not take the incident lightly, as they thought that he was assassinated]

Addressing members of Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly today, Salva Kiir said that the Southern government had met and discussed ways of resolving this crisis following the disappearance of these prominent leaders and that the [Southern government] had reviewed and studied the circumstances and conditions that led to the air disaster.
He added that it became evident that the plane crashed after taking off from Wau 350 miles from Rumbek town. He went on to say that the UN forces sent one of its helicopters to help gather the casualties from the incident scene.

He further added, ”We learnt that one of the reasons why the plane crashed was a fault that occurred to the two engines, causing the disaster”. He pointed out that there are two UN planes that are flying between the disaster zone and the Southern government presidency [presumably to investigate].

It [the plane crash] has been reviewed and followed up but up to now the full details and the direct reasons have not been revealed.