I wonder what would be the repercussions of this incident... American forces 
directly intervening in Sudan?

Also... one which strikes my mind... in a region where basic needs are scarce, 
why is it that radios become top priority in foreign aid?

AAL


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U.S. Diplomat and Driver Are Shot Dead in Sudan 

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: January 2, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya - An American diplomat in Sudan and his driver were shot to 
death early Tuesday as they were coming home from a New Year's Eve party in 
Khartoum, the capital. 

In Washington, the Agency for International Development identified the diplomat 
as one of its officials, John Granville, 33, originally of Buffalo. American 
officials said it was "too early to tell" if the shooting had been random or 
planned, but Sudanese officials said the circumstances were suspicious, 
especially because gun crime is rare in Khartoum, considered one of the safest 
cities in Africa. 

The United Nations had recently warned its staff in Sudan that there was 
credible evidence that a terrorist cell was in the country and planning to 
attack foreigners.

According to Western officials, Mr. Granville left a New Year's Eve party at 
the British Embassy around 2:30 a.m. and was being driven to his home in an 
upscale neighborhood in central Khartoum. Shortly before he arrived, a car 
pulled up next to him and 17 shots were fired, Sudanese officials said. 

Mr. Granville's driver, a Sudanese employee of the American Embassy, was killed 
instantly, and Mr. Granville was shot in the neck and chest. He was taken to 
the hospital and died several hours later. 

The Sudanese Interior Ministry identified the driver as Abdel Rahman Abbas, 40.

A Sudanese government official said that the attack appeared well planned. The 
assailants' car sped in front of the diplomat's car, cutting it off. Two gunmen 
got out of their car, with one of them shooting Mr. Granville and the other 
shooting the driver, the official said.

Walter Braunohler, a spokesman for the American Embassy in Khartoum, said he 
could not comment on the circumstances because the shooting was under 
investigation.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said American and Sudanese law enforcement 
agents were working closely together to investigate.

"We do not know why this happened," said Ali Sadiq, the spokesman. "All options 
are possible."

The attack came just hours after President Bush signed a bill that makes it 
easier for mutual funds and other investment managers to sell stakes in 
companies that do business in Sudan. The bill is aimed at Sudan's oil and 
defense industries, in particular, and is part of the broader campaign to put 
pressure on the Sudanese government to end the bloodshed in Darfur, a troubled 
region in western Sudan where more than 200,000 people have died.

The United States has urged the Sudanese government to cooperate better with 
the peacekeeping mission in Darfur. On Monday, formal authority was transferred 
from the current African Union force to a joint United Nations-African Union 
mission.

Mr. Granville had served the Agency for International Development in Sudan as 
well as Nairobi. A photo on the agency's Web site shows Mr. Granville standing 
amid a crowd of African women, each holding a radio distributed by the agency.

Mr. Granville had been deeply involved in a project to distribute 450,000 
radios equipped with generator cranks and solar panels, which work in places 
with no electricity.

The goal was to prepare southern Sudan for elections in 2009 and a possible 
referendum in 2011 on independence, according to Shari K. Bryan, who is a 
senior associate and regional director for East and Southern Africa at the 
National Democratic Institute, a nonprofit, pro-democracy group based in 
Washington.

Sean McCabe, who is married to Mr. Granville's only sibling, Katie McCabe, said 
Mr. Granville had been in Africa for about 10 years, since his graduation from 
Clark University in Worcester, Mass. The Peace Corps sent Mr. Granville to 
Cameroon for two years in the mid-1990s, Mr. McCabe said, and Mr. Granville 
also won a Fulbright scholarship for study in Africa.

"He'd come home and visit and spend time with his mother and his sister, and 
then he'd go back there and work," said Mr. McCabe, reached by telephone at the 
home of Mr. Granville's mother, Jane Granville, in the Buffalo suburb of 
Angola, N.Y. 

"That was his life," Mr. McCabe said. "He loved it." 

On Tuesday night, the American Embassy sent out an e-mail message to Americans 
in Sudan notifying them about the attack on the diplomat.

"Terrorist groups continue to seek opportunities to carry out attacks against 
U.S. interests," the message said, repeating earlier warnings. "U.S. citizens 
should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in 
public places."

Izzadine Abdul Rasoul Muhammad contributed reporting from Khartoum, Sudan, and 
Matthew L. Wald from Washington.

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