Mon Aug 1, 2:05 AM ET - Sudan's First Vice-President John Garang boards a helicopter at Entebbe International Airport on his way to meet Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni at his country home in Mbarara, western Uganda in this July 29, 2005 file photo. Garang, who this year made peace with the northern government, has died in an accident while flying from Uganda to Sudan, the Sudanese presidency confirmed on Monday. (Photo by Reuters)
Monday, August 1, 2005 - Updated at 2:00 AM EDT
Associated Press
Khartoum — Sudanese Vice-President John Garang, a former rebel leader who is a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was found dead early Monday near the Uganda-Sudan border after the helicopter he was riding in crashed, a senior Ugandan official said.
Six of Mr. Garang's aides and eight Ugandans were also killed, the official said. The crash site was in southern Sudan, near the border with northeast Uganda, the official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement hadn't yet been made.
Ugandan and Sudanese forces had been searching for Mr. Garang's helicopter since Sunday. Uganda's President said it had crashed in bad weather.
Mr. Garang's death would be a heavy blow to the January peace deal that ended a 21-year civil war between the mostly Muslim north and the Christian and animist south in which some two million people died.
The 60-year-old former rebel, who was sworn in as Vice-President just three weeks ago, left on a flight from Uganda for southern Sudan at 5:30 p.m. Ugandan time Saturday afternoon, Sudanese and Ugandan officials said. It was not clear when the last contact with his craft took place.
Mr. Garang's helicopter had attempted to land in the New Kush region of southern Sudan but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed back south, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said early Monday. Weather reports showed rain in the area.
The craft was heard near Pirre, a mountainous region near the Kenyan and Sudanese borders on the edge of a large national park, and was believed to have crash-landed, Mr. Museveni said. He added that the Kenyans had been asked to help in the search.
Mr. Garang, who earned a doctorate from Iowa State University, was seen as the sole figure with the weight to give southern Sudanese a role in the Khartoum government, which they deeply mistrust. He also was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing.
Sudanese have celebrated the power-sharing agreement -- and a new constitution signed afterward -- as opening a new chapter of peace and as a chance to resolve other bloody conflicts in Sudan, including the humanitarian crisis in the western region of Darfur. Mr. Garang was seen as a great hope for peace in Darfur.
Mr. Garang was sworn in as Vice-President on July 9 -- second only to his long-time enemy, President Omar el-Bashir. He and Mr. el-Bashir were to work on setting up a power-sharing government and on elevating Mr. Garang's rebel troops to an equal status with the Sudanese military.
There is no other leader of Mr. Garang's stature in the former rebel movement, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, which he founded and dominated for 21 years. His arrival in Khartoum on July 8 to take the Vice-President's post brought millions of southerners and northerners to the streets in celebration.
His flight's disappearance brought up the spectre of the 1994 downing of the airplane of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, who had been trying to implement a power-sharing deal between his fellow Hutus and the rival Tutsis. His death opened the doors to the Rwandan genocide in which more than 500,000 people were killed.
That genocide took place after months of preparation by Hutu militants -- something that has not taken place in Sudan amid the good feelings over the peace deal.
Mr. Garang was returning home from a private visit to Uganda, flying from the capital Kampala to southern Sudan -- a trip that normally takes about two hours -- said Ugandan army spokesman 2nd Captain Dennis Musitwa.
A Ugandan rebel group, the Lord's Resistance Army, operates in the area and has shot down Ugandan military helicopters in the past.
Mr. el-Bashir clearly saw Mr. Garang as an important partner in sealing the peace, ensuring the south does not secede, and in repairing Sudan's international reputation. With a speed stunning to many in Sudan, the Sudanese state media went from describing Mr. Garang in the darkest terms to respectively calling him “Dr. Garang” after the peace deal was struck.