A mysterious case about which there are many hypotheses and stories.. Was the plane of the second man in the Al-Bashir regime shot down, or was it an accident?

The "Political Crime" program broadcast by Al-Jazeera channel shed light on the incident of the killing of Lieutenant General Al-Zubair Muhammad Salih, the former first vice president of Sudan, in the crash of the plane he was carrying on February 12, 1998 in the Sobat River in southern Sudan, an accident for which the real reasons behind it were not known. , despite the multiplicity of hypotheses and novels about it.

Mystery remained surrounding the plane crash in which Zubair and Sudanese political and military leaders were killed, and its details have not been revealed to date.

The investigative film (24/2/2023) raised questions and hypotheses about the accident, using exclusive testimonies of survivors of the accident, some of the victims’ families, and eyewitnesses. It also presented scenes of the stricken plane that were shown for the first time.

Al-Zubair - the second man in power at the time after (former) President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir - was at the head of a delegation on a trip from Malakal to Al-Nasir in southern Sudan. A statement issued after the accident described it as part of efforts to establish peace in southern Sudan.

And the Sudanese government announced at that time through the Minister of Information and Culture - and he was one of the survivors of the accident - that the cause of the fall was due to bad weather and lack of vision.

The rebel radio also claimed responsibility for targeting the plane and the assassination of Al-Zubair, but the SPLM later denied its connection to the incident.

وتعددت الروايات والفرضيات حول إمكانية استهداف الزبير وتصفيته من أعدائه، وتذهب بعضها إلى تخطيط ضباط حركة 28 رمضان لاغتياله انتقاما لإعدام زملاء لهم إثر محاولتهم قلب نظام الحكم عام 1990، غير أن أحد ضباط الحركة وهو إبراهيم خليفة نفى تورط الحركة بحجة أن ضباطها لم تكن لديهم آلية إسقاط طائرة وأغلبيتهم أعدموا والبقية الباقية كانت في السجن، وقال "الحركة بريئة جدا من حادث اغتيال الزبير".

وتؤكد بعض الفرضيات أن تصفية نائب الرئيس تمت داخل الطائرة، وحدث تبادل لإطلاق النار قبل سقوط الطائرة، إثر خلاف حاد بين الزبير وآروك طون آروك وهو أيضا توفي في الحادث.

غير أن أحد الناجين وهو الدكتور لام أكول أجاوين نفى حدوث إطلاق النار داخل الطائرة واعتبره حديثا ملفقا، ونفس الرأي أكده أحد الناجين -ويدعى الشيخ بيش- قائلا: "لم يحصل أي شيء في الطائرة".

عدم كفاءة طاقم الطائرة

Some accounts indicate that the late Dr. Hassan al-Turabi was suspected of the Zubair plane crash, given the differences that existed between them. Al-Zubayr was the first to object to al-Turabi’s project for the return of political parties and democratic openness in Sudan, in addition to his strong relationship at the time. With the Egyptian regime and Turabi's lack of enthusiasm for this relationship, knowing that Cairo does not welcome Islamic rule in Sudan.

According to what the former official spokesman for the Sudanese army, Muhammad Bashir Suleiman, revealed to the investigative film broadcast by Al-Jazeera, Al-Zubair discussed with the regime of Hosni Mubarak during his visit to Cairo in January 1994 about how to remove Islamic rule in Sudan.

Al-Mahboob Abdel-Salam, the former director of Dr. Al-Turabi's office, acknowledged the existence of differences between the two men, but stressed that Al-Turabi is not one of the personalities who tend to plots and assassinations.

On the other hand, some accusations say that the main reason for the plane's crash was the incompetence of the plane's crew, and that the wrong decisions that were taken led to its crash into the river, without the crew being held accountable.

Some also raised doubts about the official measures taken by the Sudanese government after the accident, as the bodies were not presented to forensic medicine for examination and autopsy, and were not handed over to the families of the victims for examination, in addition to the fact that the investigations conducted by the authorities did not reveal their results to public opinion, as confirmed by some of those who spoke to the program. .

According to the investigative film, what raises questions and confirms the confusion in building a coherent narrative about what happened on February 12, 1998 relates to the difference of eyewitnesses in describing Zubair's body the moment it came out of the water, and in describing his location inside the plane before it fell.

From the technical point of view of the plane's landing, witness accounts and official reports state that the plane descended in the direction of the wind, which increased its speed at the moment of landing.

The official report stated that the dirt runway is 1,500 meters long and 8 meters wide, and that what the plane needs to land is only 750 meters.