UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the Sudanese people on Monday to remain calm after the death of Sudanese Vice President John Garang and carry out a historic peace deal signed in January by the former southern rebel leader and Khartoum.

"It was with great sorrow that I learned about the death of Vice President Garang," Annan told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, describing Garang as "a man who had lived and fought for peace and one united Sudan."

"And just as he was on the verge of achieving what he has lived and fought for, he is taken away from us," Annan said. "But what is important is that the Sudanese continue with the process of reconciliation and the process of peace."

Annan said he had spoken with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who assured him that "they are going to move forward with the peace process."

Garang, leader of the former rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), signed a peace deal with the Khartoum government in January, formally putting an end to the country's decades-long north-south conflict.

Garang was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday, three weeks after he was installed as the first vice president in a unity government of Sudan, created in accordance with the peace deal.

"I hope that spirit, that legacy from Garang, will stay with all the people of Sudan, whether they are from the north or the south, or the east or west," Annan said. "They should make peace irreversible in Sudan and work to bring stability to this troubled land."

Appealing for calm among the Sudanese, Annan said that "all indications as of now seem to indicate that it was an accident, and the government and the UN and all of us are working to try and sort things out."

"They should remain calm, and I think it is essential that SPLM moves ahead very quickly to appoint a new leader. They have two weeks in which to do that. But I hope they will do it as quickly as possible," he said.

Source: Xinhua