Sudan
Red Cross airplane aircraft fired on over Sudan

afrol News, 9 May - An aircraft from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was fired on today midway between Lokichokio, Kenya, and Juba, in southern Sudan. The co-pilot, a Danish national, was killed. It is still unsure whether rebels or government forces fired the shots.

The attack occurred when the aircraft was climbing back to its assigned altitude after a technical problem had forced it to descend briefly to 6,500 feet (2,000 metres), the ICRC today stated.

The captain, a Swedish citizen, heard what sounded like "explosions" and realized that his co-pilot had been hit. He turned back to Lokichokio but the co-pilot, Ole Friis Eriksen (26), was dead on arrival. He was allegedly killed immediately. According to the Kenyan police, who inspected the aircraft, bullet damage was visible around the cabin.

There were no passengers on the flight, which was on a routine mission and had received all necessary authorizations from all the parties on the ground. The ICRC gives prior notice of all such flights. At present, the organization is attempting to clarify the circumstances of this incident. 

The Red Cross has decided to suspend all its flights to southern Sudan time being. It will consider which consequences are to be drawn for the further engagement in Sudan. Aviation Assistance, the company that rented the aircraft to the ICRC, however says it will continue to fly over Sudan.

This attack occurred less than two weeks after the murder of six ICRC staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "It constitutes another blow to the ICRC and to humanitarian action," the ICRC today stated. "It is important to emphasize, however, that what happened today was profoundly different from what occurred in the Congo."

This is not the first time humanitarian workers have been attacked in Sudan. Last year, government forces on several occasions dropped bombs on locations where international aid workers were on duty. There are however no indications so far that the plane was attacked by government troops.

The southern rebel group, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army (SPLA), has already stated that it did not attack the aircraft. SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje said that the SPLA would never have mistaken an ICRC plane for a government one. 

Michael Burgess, director of Aviation Assistance, today said "we have no idea who did it, but if 30 percent of the population is armed, it is enough with one idiot." Burgess further explains that aircrafts rented to the Red Cross are marked with a visible red cross and that government and rebel troops are informed of their flights.

The Secretary-General of the Danish Red Cross, Jørgen Poulsen, today expressed his grief, saying "at this moment, our thoughts and our profound sympathy goes to the family of the killed." Press spokesman Helge Kvam informed that the flight had followed all routines, including notifying the warring parties one week before departure and marking the plane thoroughly.

Source: Based on ICRC, Danish Red Cross and afrol archives

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