JUBA, Sudan - Southern Sudan's minister of defence and another government official were killed on Friday in a plane crash, southern government officials said. Dominic Dim, the south's defence minister and minister of SPLA affairs, and Justin Yak, a presidential adviser for local government affairs, were on the plane that crashed near the southern town of Rumbek, the officials said.| He'd have been safer on Air Ukraine ... |
The former southern rebel SPLM signed a 2005 accord with the northern National Congress Party (NCP), ending Africa's longest civil war. The SPLA is the armed wing of the SPLM.
The crash comes a day after southern army officials said Sudan's northern and southern forces had agreed to withdraw from an oil-rich border flashpoint where clashes in the last month have killed dozens. The clashes in Unity state, near one of Sudan's largest oil fields, could disrupt the north-south peace deal that ended the war, shared wealth and power, and created separate northern and southern armies.
The UN said the plane was a Beechcraft 1900 operated by South Sudan Air Connection travelling from Wau to Juba with 21 passengers on board. The United Nations said it had sent a helicopter to the crash site. Nineteen military officials were also killed in the crash, local daily Sudan Tribune reported on its website.
Dim, who was a major general in the army, was appointed to his post last July in a cabinet reshuffle.
Former Southern rebel leader John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash three years ago. His widow has called his death an assassination, despite an official probe that blamed pilot error.