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File photo of Sudanese 1st-Vice President John Garang

    KHARTOUM, Aug. 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Sudanese Vice President and former rebel leader John Garang was killed in an air crash, President Omar el-Bashir said in a statement on Monday.

    The statement was made following a meeting of the Sudanese Council of Ministers chaired by Bashir and attended by some officials of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by Garang.

    The crash occurred when Garang left Uganda by an helicopter late Saturday to return to Sudan after talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Uganda later said it had lost contact with the aircraft.

    The statement said the helicopter carrying Garang from Uganda to southern Sudan crashed, killing Garang and the six people accompanying him as well as seven crew members.

    It said the chopper crashed after it hit the Amatong Mountain in southern Sudan due to bad weather condition.

    The statement said the death of Garang is a great loss to the Sudanese people, adding that the president was determined to pursue the peace process despite Garang's death.

    "We guarantee that the peace process will continue progressingin the same direction," Beshir's statement said.

    "His passing will only reinforce our determination to pursue the peace process he and his comrades had started with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement," said the statement read on public television.

    Garang, key leader of Sudan's southern rebels, had led a 21-year-long war against the Sudanese government.

    After signing a landmark comprehensive peace deal with Khartoumending the longest civil war in Africa, Garang was sworn in as first vice president on July 9. Enditem