BBC Wednesday, 9 May, 2001, 17:10 GMT 18:10 UK

Red Cross halts flights over Sudan

The International Committee of the Red Cross has halted its operations in Sudan, after an attack on one of its planes left a co-pilot dead.

The organisation says all its flights have been suspended until an investigation into the incident is complete - something that may take several days.

The plane had been on a routine flight across southern Sudan when several explosions ripped through the fuselage.

The 26-year-old Danish co-pilot was killed immediately. The other pilot managed to fly the damaged aircraft back to its base in northern Kenya.

Attack

The Red Cross says the area that the plane was travelling over has both rebel and government forces present.

The Sudanese Government and southern rebels exchanged accusations over who was responsible for the shooting.

But it is still not clear who might have carried out the attack.

The plane was midway between the southern Sudanese town of Juba and the northern Kenyan town of Lokichokio when the incident happened, the ICRC said.

The nine-seater King Air twin-engine turboprop aircraft was on its way to Khartoum and the ICRC said it had permission to make the flight.

Civil war

Flights in the region are notoriously difficult because of Sudan's 18-year civil war between southern rebels and the government in the north.

Aid agencies need to get permission before flying in the area.

The main southern rebel group, the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, has said it did not attack the plane.

SPLA spokesman Samson Kwaje said that SPLA troops would not have mistaken the ICRC plane for a government one.

The killing comes less than two weeks after six ICRC workers were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2001