Save the Children aid workers were killed by Darfur rebels: AU general

ABUJA, Dec 17 (AFP) - Two Sudanese aid workers who were killed this week in Darfur were victims of the rebel Sudanese Liberation Army, the commander of an African Union observer force in the region said on Friday.
General Festus Okonkwo said in a report to a ceasefire commission meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja that two Land Rover vehicles belonging to the British Save the Children aid agency, which employed the slain workers, were recovered from an SLA camp in the village of Jurof following the incident.
"The SLA attack on Save the Children UK has frightened other non-governmental organisations to the extent that they have decided to suspend all aid to the needy," he said, according to a copy of his report which was passed to AFP.
"All attempts to persuade some SLA commanders through their representative on the ceasefire commission to stop all activities that that are capable of causing insecurity in Darfur have so far failed. Some of the combattants have continued with their habit of snatching vehicles," Okonkwo said.
The report was also critical of the Sudanese government, which has been fighting the SLA and its ally the Justice and Equality Movement since they launched an insurrection in February last year. Okonkwo said Khartoum had breached a ceasefire agreement and sent reinforcements into the area.
"Some members of the international community have started leaving the region because of the speed and intensity of the build-up of forces by the government and the reciprocal build up by the SLA and JEM in Labado and Mahajiriya, which are seen by many as the main battleground," the general's report said.
On Monday, the United Nations said it had suspended humanitarian activities after Save the Children's medical assistant Abbaker al-Tayeb and mechanic Yacoub Abdelnabi Ahmed will killed the day before when their convoy of clearly marked humanitarian vehicles came under fire.
Sunday's killings were the second fatal incident suffered by Save the Children staff in two months.
On October 10, British programme manager Rafe Bullick and his Sudanese colleague, water engineer Nourredine Issa al-Tayeb, were killed in a landmine blast in North Darfur.
Meanwhile, according to Okonkwo's report, another Save the Children convoy was attacked by armed militiamen on the road from Kas to Nyala on December 5. Five people were injured and two women were allegedly raped by the attackers, the report said.

12/17/2004 15:18 GMT - AFP