Sudanese question witnesses in American’s death

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, and U.S. and Sudanese officials investigating the shooting have not specified any suspects.

The Sudanese government often drums up anti-Western sentiment in the media. But attacks on foreigners are rare in Khartoum, where an American diplomat was last killed in 1973.

Granville was working to implement a 2005 peace agreement between Sudan's north and south that ended more than two decades of civil war.

Granville's family in Buffalo, N.Y. said the diplomat was committed to his work in Africa.

"John's life was a celebration of love, hope and peace," a family statement said. "He will be missed by many people throughout the world whose lives were touched and made better because of his care."

Buffalo-area congressman, Rep. Brian Higgins, said Granville knew his work put his life in danger.

"He told his mom several times ... that it's dangerous, what he's doing, but he wouldn't want to be doing anything else," said Higgins, who spoke with Granville's mother, Jane Granville, after her son's death.

Sudan calls incident 'isolated'
Sudan's Foreign Ministry said the incident was "isolated and has no political or ideological connotations" and pledged to bring the culprits to justice.

The shooting came a day after U.S. President George W. Bush signed legislation to allow states and local governments to cut investment ties with Sudan because of the violence in the western Sudanese region of Darfur, where more than 200,000 have died in a conflict that began in 2003.

It also came just as a joint U.N.-African peacekeeping force took over control in Darfur. Al-Qaida has called for a "jihad" or holy war against the peacekeepers.

But al-Qaida has shown little overt presence in Sudan in since the Sudanese government threw out Osama bin Laden in the late 1990s.

Humanitarian aid workers have come under increasing attack in Darfur by the region's multiple armed groups, but such attacks have not been known to take place in Khartoum, which is reputed much safer than other African capitals.

Police were strongly deployed around the city on Wednesday, but several expatriates said they were not taking any special security measures and that life was continuing as normal.

Granville is the first U.S. diplomat to be killed in Sudan since the 1973 assassination of U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel, slain along with senior embassy officer George Curtis Moore by the Palestinian Black September militant group.

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