The leadership of the southern Sudanese government has pledged to remain united and strive to faithfully implement the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement ( CPA) after the death of Sudan's newly appointed Vice President John Garang.

Garang, president of the southern Sudanese government and chairman of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLM), the main political force in southern Sudan, died in a helicopter crash in the remote area of southern Sudan on Saturday night.

In a statement issued here on Monday morning, Commander Salva Kiir Mayardit, vice president of the southern Sudanese government, said that "I take this opportunity to assure the southern Sudanese in particular, and the Sudanese people in general, that we in the SPLM leadership will continue the vision and the objectives of the movement that John Garang has articulated and hoped to implement."

"We also want to assure everyone that the leadership and all cadres of the SPLM will remain united and strive to faithfully implement the CPA," he said.

Mayardit, also deputy chairman of the SPLM, called upon all members of the SPLM and the entire Sudanese nation to remain calm and vigilant, adding that he has ordered the former members of the SPLM leadership council to assemble at Kapoepa, south Sudan, for an emergency meeting.

Garang had been in Uganda to meet with Ugandan President Museveni. It was reported that Garang and his entourage left Museveni's ranch in the western Ugandan town of Rwakitura in a Ugandan government helicopter on Saturday during daylight but later encountered bad weather.

Garang, a former southern rebel leader who was sworn in as first vice president only on July 9, played a key role in reaching the peace deal earlier this year, ending 21 years of civil war that killed more than two million people.

It was hoped that his role in the transitional government could help bring peace to other volatile regions in Sudan, including Darfur.

Analysts fear that his death will be a huge blow to the new Sudanese government and the future of peace in Sudan.

Source: Xinhua