Red Crescent driver killed in Darfur camp

Dec 2, 2005 (ABUJA) — Gunmen shot and killed a Sudanese driver working for the Red Crescent aid agency in a refugee camp in the remote western Darfur region, aid workers said on Friday.

Sudanese workers stand outside the Sudanese Red Crescent compound in al-Fasher, North Darfur, Sudan, Aug. 31.

Armed men shot the driver as he was visiting a compound shared by the Red Crescent and the Spanish Red Cross, in the latest attack highlighting the dangers faced by more than 11,000 aid workers in the vast conflict-torn desert region.

The shooting took place on Thursday in the Abou Shouk camp outside the main Darfur town of el-Fasher, said Fernando Rogrillos, head of the Spanish Red Cross in Sudan.

“He was then taken to hospital and he died there later,” Rogrillos told Reuters by telephone. “They took the car but it is not clear yet if the purpose was to steal the car,” he added.

A revolt has raged in Darfur for almost 3 years, claiming tens of thousands of lives and forcing more than 2 million to flee their homes for refugee camps.

Violence has increased in Darfur in recent weeks, prompting the United Nations to warn it was descending into chaos.

Banditry has escalated on the roads, closing them to humanitarian traffic. Rebel infighting has increased, Arab militias are fighting each other, and government troops clashed with rebels along the border with Chad last week.

Even African Union troops, monitoring a shaky ceasefire in the vast region, have come under fire as a seventh round of peace talks opened in the Nigerian capital Abuja this week.

(Reuters)