Aid worker shot dead in North Darfur

A Sudanese staff member of the humanitarian agency Relief International (RI) was killed in an attack by an armed gang in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur on Wednesday, officials said. Hassan Ahmad Idris, 23, an agricultural officer, was travelling in North Darfur with two local members of staff and a driver when their vehicle was stopped by armed robbers, who shot him dead, RI said in a statement. One of the assailants had been arrested, it added. The United Nations envoy for Sudan, Jan Pronk, has expressed concern over the increasing violence in Darfur, saying the clashes between rival groups continued to displace civilians. "I am very concerned about the increase in violence in some specific areas of Darfur," Pronk told a news conference in Khartoum on Wednesday. He named the most volatile areas as the northern part of North Darfur and eastern section of Jebel Marra, between Kutum and El Fasher, the state capital. The Darfur conflict erupted in February 2003 when rebels took up arms to fight alleged discrimination against the region by the central government. The government is accused of unleashing militias on civilians in an attempt to quash the rebellion. jn/mw