Sudan plane crashes, minister among 26 dead

JUBA, Sudan - Southern Sudan's minister of defence and another government official were killed on Friday in a plane crash, southern government officials said.
Dominic Dim, the south's defence minister and minister of SPLA affairs, and Justin Yak, a presidential adviser for local government affairs, were on the plane that crashed near the southern town of Rumbek, the officials said.
Deng Goc, a spokesman for the Southern People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), confirmed that Dim had been on the plane but could not confirm if he had died.
Yak's wife was also killed in the crash, a government source said. The sources gave no reason for the crash.
The former southern rebel SPLM signed a 2005 accord with the northern National Congress Party (NCP), ending Africa's longest civil war. The SPLA is the armed wing of the SPLM.
The crash comes a day after southern army officials said Sudan's northern and southern forces had agreed to withdraw from an oil-rich border flashpoint where clashes in the last month have killed dozens.
The clashes in Unity state, near one of Sudan's largest oil fields, could disrupt the north-south peace deal that ended the war, shared wealth and power, and created separate northern and southern armies.
The UN said the plane was a Beechcraft 1900 operated by South Sudan Air Connection travelling from Wau to Juba with 21 passengers on board. The United Nations said it had sent a helicopter to the crash site.
Nineteen military officials were also killed in the crash, local daily Sudan Tribune reported on its website.
Dim, who was a major general in the army, was appointed to his post last July in a cabinet reshuffle.
Former Southern rebel leader John Garang was killed in a helicopter crash three years ago. His widow has called his death an assassination, despite an official probe that blamed pilot error.
Southern Sudan Air Connection, registered in January 2007, operates daily flights from Juba to parts of Southern Sudan, it said on its website.