UN envoy attends swearing-in of new Sudanese First Vice-President

The top United Nations envoy for Sudan today attended the swearing in ceremony of Salva Kiir, a former southern rebel commander, as the country's new First Vice-President, following the death of his predecessor John Garang in a helicopter crash two weeks ago.

Jan Pronk, head of the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), heard Mr. Kiir pledge to uphold Mr. Garang's commitment to a peaceful and unified Sudan. Mr. Kiir had been named leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) after Mr. Garang's 30 July death.

Mr. Kiir urged broad cooperation towards nation-building in Sudan and pledged to exercise his energies, and those of the SPLM, to bring eastern Sudan and the troubled Darfur region in the west on board the peace process. Darfur's two-year conflict has claimed over 180,000 lives, displaced around 2 million people and sent hundreds of thousands more fleeing to neighbouring Chad.

Mr. Garang, who steered the southern-based SPLM through a two-decade battle against the northern Government, had been instrumental in ushering in a January peace accord, which ended Africa's longest-running conflict and led to the swearing in of a national unity Government in early July.

His death, which occurred just three weeks after he took office as First Vice-President, sparked days of rioting in Khartoum and the southern part of the country and drew calls for calm and recommitment to the peace process from the UN Security Council, as well as Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The UN has pledged to assist the SPLM and the Government investigate what caused the helicopter to crash into a mountain in southern Sudan.