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ICRC employee killed in Darfur
12/02/2008 13:41 - (SA)
Geneva - An international Red Cross employee from Sudan was killed during fighting last week in Darfur, the humanitarian agency said on Tuesday.
The 45-year-old water and sanitation technician was in the International Committee of the Red Cross's West Darfur compound near the town of Sileia on Friday when he was killed, said Anna Schaaf, an ICRC spokesperson. More details were not immediately available.
"The ICRC is shocked by the news of this death," the Geneva-based body said in a statement.
On Friday, Sudanese helicopter gunships and planes bombed Sirba, Sileia and Abu Suruj while striking at rebel forces, which had been trying to consolidate their positions in West Darfur.
Several United Nations resolutions banned military flights over the region, but the Sudanese military had regularly ignored them.
Darfur rebels had denied any of their fighters were in the towns attacked by the government on Friday, and said some 200 people were killed.
The ICRC had been working in Darfur since 2004. The conflict started a year earlier after ethnic African tribesmen took up arms, complaining of decades of neglect and discrimination by the Sudanese government.
Sudan's Arab-dominated government was accused of responding by unleashing the tribal militia known as janjaweed, which had committed the worst atrocities against Darfur's local communities.
At least 200 000 people had been killed and 2.5 million displaced in the violence.
- AP
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