Sudan questions witness in US diplomat murder case
January 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Investigators have questioned a key witness whose testimony should assist in arresting suspects in the murder of a U.S. diplomat shot in Khartoum on New Year’s Day, Sudan’s justice minister said Monday.
“His testimony will help apprehend the man, men or organization involved in the killing,” al-Mardi said.
He wouldn’t elaborate, but several Sudanese newspapers said the taxi driver had described a suspected gunman. The independent Al-Rai Al-Amm quoted unnamed judiciary officials as saying the witness had also provided police with the license plate of the killers’ car.
Granville, who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was shot in the early hours of Jan. 1 in Khartoum while returning home from a New Year’s party. He was hit by at least five bullets and died in hospital.
A previously unknown group calling itself Ansar al-Tawhid, or Companions of Monotheism, has claimed the killing, but Sudanese authorities have dismissed the claim and say the murder wasn’t a terrorist attack.
However, the U.S. embassy hasn’t ruled out terrorism. U.S. diplomats, along with staff from some other embassies and aid groups, have been told to avoid public places usually frequented by Westerners in Khartoum.
FBI agents are working in Khartoum with Sudanese authorities, but the justice minister insisted the investigation was being “conducted and run” solely by the Sudanese.
“Investigators are commuting some elements to the FBI, in areas where they have more expertise and can help us,” al-Mardi said.
Two senior U.S. State Department officials visited Khartoum this weekend to discuss ways to improve the security of U.S. diplomats in Sudan and solve a customs dispute regarding the import of construction material for a new U.S. embassy being built in a suburb of the Sudanese capital.
(AP)