2008.01.02: January 2, 2008: Headlines: COS - Cameroon: Sudan: Obituary: Diplomacy: USAID: Associated Press: Slain Diplomat John Granville (RPCV Cameroon) Was Devoted to Africa
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2008.01.02: January 2, 2008: Headlines: COS - Cameroon: Sudan: Obituary: Diplomacy: USAID: New York Times: Cameroon RPCV John Granville Shot Dead in Sudan :
2008.01.02: January 2, 2008: Headlines: COS - Cameroon: Sudan: Obituary: Diplomacy: USAID: Associated Press: Slain Diplomat John Granville (RPCV Cameroon) Was Devoted to Africa
Slain Diplomat John Granville (RPCV Cameroon) Was Devoted to Africa
John Granville knew his work toward restoring peace in Sudan put him in harm's way, but he told his family he wouldn't want to do anything else. Africa had been "very special to John" since his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, his family said in a statement Tuesday, after Granville, 33, and his driver were shot to death in the Sudanese capital. Granville, who was from Buffalo, was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of a team trying to implement a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.
Slain Diplomat John Granville (RPCV Cameroon) Was Devoted to Africa
Slain Diplomat Was Devoted to Africa
By CAROLYN THOMPSON – 20 hours ago
Caption: This undated photo provided by the US Agency for International Development shows John Granville, center. Granville was shot and killed early Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2008 by gunmen in a passing car who cut him off as he was being driven home in Sudan's capital. Sudanese officials insisted it was not a terrorist attack but the U.S. embassy said it was too soon to determine the motive. (AP Photo/USAID)
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — John Granville knew his work toward restoring peace in Sudan put him in harm's way, but he told his family he wouldn't want to do anything else.
Africa had been "very special to John" since his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, his family said in a statement Tuesday, after Granville, 33, and his driver were shot to death in the Sudanese capital.
Granville, who was from Buffalo, was working for the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of a team trying to implement a 2005 peace agreement that ended decades of civil war between north and south Sudan.
"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 U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins, who spoke with Granville's mother, Jane Granville, after her son's death.
Officials were working to return Granville's body to the United States, possibly by Wednesday or Thursday, the Buffalo-area congressman said.
Granville, who last called his mother on New Year's Eve, graduated from Fordham University and got a master's degree in international development from Clark University, his family said. While in the Peace Corps, he helped a Cameroon village build its first school.
"John's life was a celebration of love, hope and peace," the family's statement said. "He will be missed by many people throughout the world whose lives were touched and made better because of his care."
Granville had surgery after being struck several times in the attack, which instantly killed his Sudanese driver, identified by the Sudanese Interior Ministry as 40-year-old Abdel Rahman Abbas.
He was being driven home at around 4 a.m. when another vehicle intercepted his car, the Sudanese Interior Ministry said. Gunmen in the car opened fire on Granville's vehicle and fled the scene, the ministry said in a statement.
Higgins said the pair had been in a car with diplomatic plates, and investigators are trying to determine a motive.
"They don't know if it was random or if it was targeted for USAID or targeted for John," Higgins said.
Higgins, a member of a House subcommittee for international relations in emerging threats, has been to Sudan twice and praised the work of agencies like USAID "for doing the work that government over there won't do and can't do."
"He was doing God's work," Higgins said.
Granville's work included bringing radios to residents of south Sudan to maximize USAID's broadcasting initiatives in the region, according to the organization's Web site, which posted pictures Granville surrounded by some of those who received radios.
The shooting came a day after a joint African Union-United Nations force took over peacekeeping in Sudan's Darfur region. Though Darfur, far to the west, is engulfed in violence, the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and its surroundings rarely see political violence or attacks by Islamic militants.
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Headlines: January, 2008; Peace Corps Cameroon; Directory of Cameroon RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Cameroon RPCVs; Diplomacy; USAID
When this story was posted in January 2008, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Associated Press
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Cameroon; Sudan; Obituary; Diplomacy; USAID
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