UN condemns killing of relief workers in Darfur

The UN has strongly condemned the murder of two relief workers in the western Sudanese region of Darfur and called on the Khartoum government, rebels and militia to respect the principles of international humanitarian law. "The fact that [relief] workers themselves seem to have become the target of fighting poses severe difficulties for humanitarian access, with grave consequences for assistance in the future," Jan Pronk, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Sudan, said in a statement. The two Sudanese employees of the international relief organisation, Save the Children UK (SC-UK), were killed on Monday in South Darfur state, after coming under fire while travelling in a convoy of three clearly marked humanitarian vehicles on the main road between the localities of Mershing and Duma. "Two other vehicles in the convoy managed to flee the scene unharmed," Radia Achouri, spokeswoman for the United Nations Advance Mission in Sudan, told IRIN on Tuesday. "We deplore this brutal killing of humanitarian workers in Darfur," Ken Caldwell, SC UK's director of international operations, said in a statement. "Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of our Sudanese colleagues." The NGO said it would suspend its humanitarian operations in the state while African Union (AU) officials, charged with monitoring the ceasefire in the region, were investigating the incident. SC UK operates a number of feeding centres and medical clinics throughout camps in South Darfur, serving an estimated 130,000 displaced people, Laura Conrad, SC UK's senior media officer told IRIN from London on Tuesday. On 10 October, two other SC UK workers, a British programme manager and a Sudanese Sudanese water engineer, were killed by a landmine in North Darfur. Their driver was seriously injured. The AU blamed rebel forces for the landmine incident. The war in Darfur pits Sudanese government troops and militias allegedly allied to the government against rebels fighting to end what they have called the marginalisation of and discrimination against the region's inhabitants by the state. The conflict has displaced an estimated 1.45 million people and sent another 200,000 fleeing across the border into Chad. The UN has described the Darfur problem as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.