Accusations fly after Red Cross pilot is killed
The Sudanese government and rebels exchanged accusations over who was responsible for shooting a Red Cross plane and killing its co-pilot today.
Red Cross operations in Sudan were suspended after the plane was hit by gunfire on a flight from Kenya.
Michael Kleiner, a Red Cross spokesman based in Nairobi, said the nine-seat King Air plane was struck twice about half way between Lokichokio in Kenya and Juba in Sudan.
One exploding shell damaged the cockpit and instantly killed the co-pilot, 26-year-old Ole Friis Eriksen from Copenhagen.
The second explosion damaged the right wing, Kleiner added. The pilot, who was not injured, managed to land the damaged plane, at Lokichokio.
The twin-engine, turboprop aircraft, that was clearly marked with Red Cross insignia and carried no passengers, had been on a scheduled weekly flight and had received permission from the government of Sudan to make the flight.
Southern Sudanese rebels and government forces have been fighting a civil war in southern Sudan since 1983. The plane was over government-held Sudan at the time of the explosion.
‘‘In that area we have no forces, but there are government forces in Torit, Kapoeta and Juba. In the countryside, there are government-supported militia and they must have done the shooting,’’ said Samson Kwaje, a spokesman for the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army.
But Sudanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shoul Deng said ‘‘the plane was subjected to fire from areas under the control of rebel groups.’’
‘‘Government troops presence in this area is limited ... and there is no reason for government forces to open fire on a Red Cross plane,’’ the minister said.
Red Cross spokesman Michael Kleiner said the plane had dropped from its normal cruising height because of air pressure problems and was flying at 8,500 ft when it was hit.
At that height it would have put it in range of anti-aircraft guns. When the plane was hit.
