Aid worker for Save the Children killed in Darfur
May 1, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — Save the Children reported that one its employees was killed during a robbery at its truck compound in Geneina, capital of West Darfur.
Aid workers and their vehicles become are regularly attacked by armed bandits in the three states of Darfur. Last month a truck driver delivering aid to Darfur for the U.N. World Food Program has been shot and killed.
The incident took place around 4 a.m. yesterday morning when three armed men gained entry into the agency’s truck compound. The Save the Children employee, Abdalla Hamid, was shot multiple times before the assailants fled the compound in a Save the Children vehicle.
“Our deepest condolences go out to Abdullah’s family and his colleagues in West Darfur,” said Halane Hussein, country director for Save the Children’s operations in Sudan. ”
Abdullah had worked for Save the Children for four years.
The NGO did not say who was behind the killing. However it said fully cooperating with authorities, who are investigating the crime.
The U.N. aid chief estimated this week that up to 300,000 people have died in the 5-year-old Darfur conflict, up from a previous estimate of more than 200,000.
More than 2 million have been displaced from their homes since 2003 when ethnic African tribesman took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum.
(ST)