Acts of violence following the death of Garang

The Sudanese authorities announced curfew in Khartoum for 12 hours, following the acts of riots which erupted after the death of John Garang.

The authorities said that 36 persons were killed and other 300 injured in the acts of violence, while heavy financial and material losses were inflicted with the burning of cars and the eruption of acts of plundering and stealing.

The Sudanese minister of information Abdul Baset Sabedrat said the security forces were able to impose order to restore calm to Khartoum.

News reports said that streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum seemed to be empty except for security forces, noting that the situation in the city is still tense and columns of smoke still rise from various areas The acts of riots extended to Jouba city, the biggest in southern Sudan, where thousands of people attacked shops and offices of people from the north of Sudan and stole their contents before burning them.

President Omar Hassan al-Bashir eulogized his deputy, Garang, and announced national mourning for three days, and opened the door for receiving condolences at the republic's palace and his country's embassies abroad.

The Sudanese minister of information explained in an interview with al-Jazeera TV that the helicopter of the Ugandan president which was carrying Garang following his private visit to the President of Uganda, Yuri Mousivini, collided with the Amatong mountains because of bad weather conditions, and this resulted in killing Garang and six of his escorts as well as the seven members of the Ugandan team crew.