South Sudan releases foreign commercial flight it says landed unauthorised

September 8, 2012 (JUBA) – South Sudan has released a foreign commercial flight, its security apparatus and officials with the Aviation Authority last week said landed without official approval, an official at the country’s ministry of transport said on Saturday.

The plane carrying no commercial goods with only three foreign crews, on Friday landed at the country’s Juba International Airport, allegedly without the aviation approval, generating concerns and suspicions fearing links to foreign intelligence.

“Yes, it has been released yesterday, Captain David Martin”, an undersecretary in the ministry of transport told Sudan Tribune on Saturday. “We jointly carried out investigation with security forces and it was found that it was merely a commercial flight. It had no national security threat. It was a simple mistake.”

Martin said the committee had not found any intelligence connections to the crew members although the airline had violated aviation rules but that it notified the countries of origin he did not mention.

“It has been released. This is what I thought you wanted for your readers. The rest of the information is not necessary”, Martin said as he cut off the interview.

South Sudan gained an independent status a year ago from neigbouring Sudan with which it is still engaged in secession dispute after waging repeated wars demanding separation, resulting into the loss of over two million lives and displacement of more than four million people.

It faces a number of administrative challenges including controlling its airspace.

(ST)