The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) said on Monday the helicopter crash that killed its leader John Garang was due to "bad weather condition."

"We confirm that the cause was the bad condition of the weather...no other reasons," senior SPLM official Nhial Deing Nhial said in a statement.

The statement was made to fend off some rumors on the death of Garang, who was just sworn in as first vice president of Sudan on July 9 under a comprehensive peace deal with Khartoum to end the 21-year civil war.

Nhial said the SPLM will continue the course of the peace realized by "martyr John Garang", calling on all Sudanese people to keep patient and self-restraint on the great loss of the nation.

"We should prevent any acts of disorder and disturbance," said Nhial, stressing that such acts "do not represent the SPLM's strategies and do not suit Sudanese people's morals."

The statement urged all SPLM's members to stay in the movement's offices in Khartoum and across Sudan to receive condolences on the loss of the former rebel leader.

Garang died Saturday evening in a helicopter crash on his way back to Sudan after talks with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

The Sudanese government confirmed his death in a statement earlier in the day, which said the copter crashed after it hit the Amatong Mountain in southern Sudan due to bad weather condition.

Source: Xinhua