BEIJING, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials in the UN Mission in Sudan said early Monday morning that Sudanese First-Vice President John Garang had been killed in a helicopter crash, but there has been no confirmation of his death from the Sudanese government.

    Earlier Monday morning, the Sudanese government announced that Garang was still missing after authorities lost contact with a helicopter flying him home from a private visit to Uganda.

    The former rebel leader, sworn in as vice president on July 9 under a power-sharing deal signed with Khartoum in January to end the country's 21-year civil war, was seen crucial to Sudan's fledgling peace process.

    Government spokesman Abdul-Basit Sabdarat told the state television that Khartoum has mobilized all concerned sectors to find the whereabouts of Garang's flight.

    The Sudanese government has informed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan of the issue, the spokesman said, adding that Sudanese Minister of Defense Bakri Hassan Salih also contacted his Ugandan counterpart on the missing plane.

    President Omar el-Bashir's office said the president has contacted his Ugandan counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, to try and locate the aircraft carrying the first vice president.

    Garang arrived in Uganda on Friday for a two-day visit, during which he held talks with Museveni at the latter's ranch in Rwakitura, about 300 km southwest of the capital Kampala.

    He left Uganda on Saturday afternoon and contact with the plane was lost hours later, reports said.

    The Sudanese army has launched a massive search operation in the remote border region since Garang's aircraft disappeared.

    "We share the anxiety of the public since it is now 24 hours since the estimated arrival of the helicopter at its destination,"Museveni said in a statement early on Monday. The flight usually takes two hours.

    Museveni said in his statement that Garang left Rwakitura in the president's Mi-72 helicopter at around 3:45 p.m. (1245 GMT) Saturday for his base at New Site in Sudan, just north of the Kidepo Valley National Park, which is also near the Kenyan border.

    "Due to the need to refuel the helicopter, they stopped in Entebbe (in Uganda) and left at 4:55 p.m. (1355 GMT). By 6:30 p.m.(1530 GMT), the chopper was overflying the Karenga and Kapedo areas near Kidepo. The helicopter attempted to land in southern Sudan at a place known as New Kush, but aborted the landing because of bad weather and headed southwest," the statement said.

    Garang founded in 1983 the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) which took up arms against the central government as the latter tried to impose Islamic Sharia law on the mainly Christian and animist south.

    Being a big shot in the south, Garang's arrival in Khartoum to take the vice president's post brought to the streets millions of both southerners and northerners in celebration.

    A new constitution was signed afterward, but a unity government has not been set up.

    Garang was a strong voice against outright secession by the south, calling instead for autonomy and power-sharing. Enditem