US offers $10m for info leading to Granville’s killers

Ashorooq.net/ File

The U.S. government has declared that it offers up to $10 million for information leading to the capture of two Sudanese men involved in the killing of the American diplomat John Granville and USAID employee Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama in Khartoum five years ago.

In a press release it issued yesterday, the U.S. Departmentof State’s Rewards for Justice Program declared Abdelbasit Alhaj Alhassan Haj Hamad and Mohamed Makawi Ibrahim Mohamed as global terrorists. The action blocks any assets they have in the U.S. and bans Americans from doing business with them.

“The Department has authorized rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the capture of Abdelbasit Alhaj Alhasan Haj Hamad and Mohamed Makawi Ibrahim Mohamed, two of five individuals convicted in Sudan for the murders”. The statement read.

Abdelbasit and Makawi were among four sentenced to death for the drive-by shooting of John Granville, a 33-year-old diplomat from Buffalo, N.Y., and his driver in Khartoum on Jan. 1, 2008.

The State Department says Abdelbasit shot Granville and Makawi killed the driver.

“Makawi had ties to the Sudan-based terrorist organization al-Qaida in the Land of the Two Niles, which conspired to attack other U.S., Western, and Sudanese targets. He was the leader of the attack that killed Granville and Abbas and was identified as one of the gunmen. Makawi was born in 1984 in Sudan and speaks English and Arabic”. The statement said, adding that Abdelbasit was the second shooter in the attack and he also speaks English and Arabic.