Sudanese Vice President John Garang died in a plane crash. The BBC reports this with reference to the UN representative in this country. Let us remind you that earlier it became known that J. Garang’s plane disappeared on the way from Uganda to the southern part of Sudan.

Conflicting information was received: different sources either reported that J. Garang crashed, or that he landed safely at his destination. The Sudanese authorities spoke about the missing plane, the Ugandan authorities spoke about the Mi-72 helicopter on which the vice president flew from Uganda.

The death of J. Garang, experts believe, will cause irreparable damage to the peace process in civil war-torn Sudan.

Recall that a few hours earlier, Sudanese state television, which interrupted its regular broadcast for an emergency news release, reported that the plane of Sudanese Vice President John Garang had landed safely in the southern part of the country.

However, Sudanese Information Minister Abdel-Basit Sabdarat denied the television report. According to the minister, the government does not have information about the whereabouts of the plane, as well as about the fate of the vice president.

In addition, the minister also said that J. Garang's plane took off from Uganda to Sudan not on July 31, as previously reported, but on the evening of July 30, AP reports. Towards the evening of the same day, contact with the Deputy Prime Minister's plane was lost due to bad weather conditions. By order of the President of Sudan, the search for the vice-president's plane was carried out by the country's Air Force.

According to Sudanese television, on July 31, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir received a message that J. Garang was flying from Uganda, where he was on an unofficial visit, to southern Sudan.

However, according to a representative of the Ugandan army, J. Garang flew out on July 30, and by helicopter. This helicopter, according to the military, crashed. At the same time, the representative of the party, J. Garang in the capital of Kenya, said that the vice president was safe in the southern part of Sudan.

J. Garang previously led the armed opposition of Sudan. January 9 this year he and Sudanese President Ali Osman Mahammad Taha signed an agreement on the terms of a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Darfur. Subsequently, J. Garang was appointed vice president of Sudan and head of the southern part of Sudan.

In Sudan's Darfur province, fighting has continued for nearly two years between Arab Janjaweed militias, believed to be backed by the government, and Christian African rebels. According to the UN, since the conflict began in February 2003. More than 180 thousand people died in the country, another 2 million people were forced to leave their homes. The UN calls the humanitarian crisis in Darfur currently the worst in the world.

Vice President of Sudan dies in plane crash