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Verdict Announced in Murders of USAID's Granville and Rahama
FrontLines - July 2009
Khartoum, Sudan—A court convicted five men on June 24 for their role in the murder of USAID officer John Granville and USAID Foreign Service National Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama on New Year’s Day 2008.
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John Granville, far left, with Sinclair Cornell, BearingPoint Inc.; Stephanie Funk, USAID; Faisal Sultan, BearingPoint Inc.; and Rich Haselwood, Mercy Corps, in Khartoum, November 2007.
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Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, left, with USAID’s Walter Doetsch and Mubarek Khamis.
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Granville, 33, who was brought up in Buffalo, N.Y., devoted his life to humanitarian work. He was a USAID democracy
and governance officer who helped distribute thousands
of solar-powered radios in southern Sudan to inform citizens of their rights and to help them prepare for elections. He served earlier in Cameroon as a Peace Corps Volunteer, from 1997 to 1999, and later as a Fulbright fellow.
Rahama, known to friends and colleagues as A.R., was born in Juba and joined USAID in 2004 as a member of the Agency’s Disaster Assistance Response Team for Darfur. He became a driver for the USAID mission in Khartoum in November 2005. He is survived by his wife, Fatima Mohamed Ali Osman, and his young son, Mujtaba. He also provided support to his father, Abbas Rahama Mohammed.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement
that Rahama and Granville “represented the highest ideals”
of USAID. She noted that they were both dedicated
to “bringing peace and stability to Sudan.”
Acting USAID Administrator Alonzo Fulgham issued a statement noting that “
colleagues and friends at USAID … mourn their loss but will continue to honor their memory and dedication.”
Granville’s mother, Jane Granville of Buffalo, N.Y.,
prepared a statement
read to the court by her lawyer. (Her full statement is below.)
Granville and Rahama were returning from a New Year’s Eve party in Khartoum when they were cut off and shot in their car on Jan. 1, 2008.
U.S. FBI officers helped to investigate the killings, the first murder of a U.S. diplomat
since the early 1970s in a city that is generally safe for foreigners.
The U.S. government since 2005 has contributed more than $6 billion in assistance to Sudan and eastern Chad.
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