Two more aid workers killed in Darfur Sudan

Reports from the BBC and Telegraph today confirm two aid workers were shot dead on Sunday when their convoy came under fire in South Darfur.

The pair, from Save the Children UK, were helping to distribute food in the area when their vehicles came under fire yesterday. The British charity has now suspended aid operations in South Darfur following the killing of Abhakar el Tayeb, a medical assistant, and mechanic Yacoub Abdelnabi Ahmed, while investigations by AU military observers take place. It is not clear who is responsible. Both the victims were Sudanese nationals. The charity says their workers were travelling in a clearly marked humanitarian convoy.

In October, two Save the Children UK workers were killed by a landmine in North Darfur. 13 violations of a ceasefire agreement were confirmed in September and 54 documented between October and mid-December, said Assane Ba, a spokesman for the AU mediating the talks in Abuja.

"That means the violations are growing" he said. "This is poisoning the atmosphere and we can't have meaningful negotiations in this situation."

Save the Children UK is one of the largest food distributors, reaching more than 300,000 of the 1.6 million refugees forced from their homes.