SOUTHERN SUDAN PRESIDENT SALVA KIIR, NARROWLY ESCAPED UNHURT IN A PLANE MISHAP IN UGANDAN NORTHERN TOWN OF GULU, AFTER A MEETING WITH PRESIDENT MUSEVENI.
Reports By Leo Odera Omolo
REPORTS reaching Kampala ,this afternoon says, the Southern Sudan President Salva Kiir was yesterday involved in a plane mishap in Uganda.
The accident occurred at Gulu Airport in the northern Uganda as he {Kiir} was about to leave Uganda to return to his country after an overnight stay in Gulu..
One of the front tyres of the Russian made-plane Antonov aircraft burst as it taxied for a take off on Wednesday morning at about 9.A.M {local time}.
Eye-witnesses reported that the Sudanese pilot was able to skillfully bring the aircraft to a halt, as it aborted the taking off, and President Kiir and his team were hastily evacuated. Nobody was injured.
Kiir, the President of the semi-autonomous Southern Sudan, had been in Uganda for a working visit, during which time, he inspected the disputed Uganda-Sudan border area, in the company of his host, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
His delegation included Southern Sudan Internal Affairs minister, Gier Guang Aloung, and the Central Equatorial State Governor Wani-Konga.
President Museveni’s press secretary, Tamale Mirundi, later quoted the Sudanese pilot as saying that the had recently been to Russian for the plane’s major service repair work.
The NEWVISION today’s edition stated that Kiir had used the same plane when he flew to to the Northern Ugandan town of Gulu on Tuesday. Soon after his flight, the aircraft flew back to Juba, the Southern Sudanese capital and returned yesterday morning to pick the President, who had spent a night in Gulu ,after an overnight stay, and private talks with his host
The Sudanese pilot was further quoted as saying that, although the aircraft could still fly, he preferred not to take the risk, because he was not sure he could land it safely.
The Ugandan government later provided a Folker Friendship plane, which flew President Kiir team safely back to Juba, the Southern Sudan capital, in the afternoon . ” It was a minor accident. It was just a tyre burst that had a problem,” Gier Aloung said afterward.
Mirundi was further quoted as saying that by the time the incident happened, President Museveni had already left Gulu, and flown back to Entebbe, in preparation of his trip to Trinidad and Tobago ,for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. He is the current and outgoing chairman of the CHOGM.
This is the second time a Sudanese leader has been involved in a plane accident when flying home after a visit to Uganda.
On July 20,2005, Kiir’s predecessor General John Garaang De Mabior, died after the Ugandan presidential helicopter he was traveling in crashed in a mountainous area..The accident was attributed to poor visibility, due to a storm, and the pilot’s failure to maneuver the helicopter over the mountain range, close to the Southern Sudan border with Uganda. Garaang died together with six of his colleagues and seven Ugandan crew and security personnel.
Gulu RDC, Walter Ochoro, was the only senior Uganda government official who saw Kiir off at Gulu Airport. ”Everything is alright. Things have been sorted out well and the Sudanese President has peacefully and safely flown back home after a brief visit to Uganda”. RDC is an equivalent to a District Commissioner in Kenya in official government ranking in Uganda.
Ends
SILVA KIIR AND PLANE ACCIDENT IN NORTHERN UGANDA
Not again Kaguta Yoweri Museveni!
Why is it that only a junior Ugandan government officer escorted President Silva Kiir on his way out of Uganda back home in Sudan?
DR ODIDA OKUTHE.