An American diplomat had died of injuries sustained in a
shooting incident in the Sudanese capital early on Tuesday, the US
embassy in Sudan said.
"This afternoon, the American officer succumbed to his injuries
and passed away," said Walter Braunohler, the public affairs
officer at the US Embassy in Khartoum.
Braunohler said it was too early to speculate about motives,
adding that the slain US diplomat worked for the US Agency for
International Development (USAID).
An anonymous diplomatic source said that unknown gunmen opened
fire as the US diplomat was heading home in an embassy vehicle just
before the sunrise on New Year's day.
The driver was killed instantly and the US diplomat was moved to
a local hospital where he died from his wounds.
Five bullets were shot into various parts of the US diplomat's
body, the diplomatic source noted.
The official SUNA news agency identified the official as
33-year-old John Granville and said he had died from multiple
gunshot wounds.
Ali al-Sadig, the spokesman of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry,
told Xinhua that Sudanese and US security agencies were cooperating
in order to find out the circumstances of the shooting
incident.
"There is cooperation between security agencies concerned from
the two countries in order to investigate the circumstances of the
regrettable incident," the spokesman said.
He added that the cooperation would continue until the culprits
are arrested.
In a statement, the Sudanese Foreign Ministry described the
incident as "isolated", ruling out any political impact on the
situation in Sudan as well as its relations with other
countries.
The Sudanese government "is fully committed to take care of and
protect the foreigners residing on Sudan's territories especially
the diplomats, and will continuously do its best to provide the
maximum security and peace for them," the Sudanese Foreign Ministry
said in the statement.
It noted that the authorities concerned had started the
investigation into the incident immediately after it took
place.
Until now no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
This was the first time that a foreign diplomat was shot over
years in Sudan, where a hatred against western countries especially
the US was popular among the grass-roots.
The incident came only one day after US President George W. Bush
signed a law called "Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of
2007" which had been passed by the Congress on Dec. 19 last
year.
The bill encourages but does not require US state and local
governments, as well as private investors, to divest from companies
that do business in Sudan, in order to sanction it over the Darfur
crisis labeled as "genocide" by the US administration.
"I share the deep concern of the Congress over the continued
violence in Darfur perpetrated by the government of Sudan and rebel
groups," Bush said in a statement.
"My administration will continue its efforts ... through
sanctions against the government of Sudan and high-level diplomatic
engagement and by supporting the deployment of peacekeepers in
Darfur," said Bush.
Relations between Khartoum and Washington have been cold since
late 1990s as the US administration imposed economic sanctions on
the African country, accusing it of supporting Islamic
terrorism.
Also on the eve of New Year's day, a hybrid force formed by the
United Nations and the African Union (AU) took over the
peacekeeping authorities in the conflict-torn western Sudanese
region of Darfur from the under funded AU peacekeeping force, which
had been existing there since more than three years.
Local analysts do not expect an obvious improvement of the
unstable situation in Darfur in a short term following the transfer
in view of a lack of human resources and long-distance mobilization
means for the hybrid force.
(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2008)
