The leadership of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) on Monday appointed deputy chairman of the SPLM Salva Kiir Miyardeit as successor to the late chairman John Garang, the Sudanese state television reported.

The SPLM leadership also named Miyardeit to replace Garang as Sudanese First Vice President during an emergency meeting in New Site, according to the report.

Earlier in the day, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir announced that Garang was killed in a helicopter crash Saturday evening on his way back to southern Sudan from a visit to Uganda.

Both Khartoum government and the former southern rebel group SPLM have vowed to press ahead with the implementation of a comprehensive peace deal signed in January by Garang and Bashir to end a 21-year civil war in the south.

Garang was sworn in as the first vice president of a national unity government on July 9 under the power-sharing peace deal.

Source: Xinhua