An American diplomat working to promote democracy and changes in the electoral process in Sudan was fatally shot in Khartoum yesterday, in an incident that could further strain American relations with the conflict-ravaged African country and stall the peace process there.

The diplomat, John Granville, 33, of Buffalo, had joined the U.S. Agency for International Development as a democracy and governance officer within the past two years, a USAID official said.

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Granville’s death and the murder of his driver shortly after midnight on Tuesday followed a jittery day for Sudan, where the government and other groups have been resisting various efforts to end violence in the Darfur region.

On Monday, a new joint United Nations and African Union force began taking over peacekeeping operations in a troop surge meant to quell the violence in Darfur. An expert on the Sudan at the Social Science Research Council, Alexander de Waal, noted that Al Qaeda associates in the Sudan had previously threatened attacks once the U.N. troops arrived.

“If one puts two and two together, I would suspect there was a link,” he said, adding that Khartoum is usually a safe city with very little crime, where a middle-level diplomat would not normally travel with a security detail.

“This has to be politically motivated,” he said.

The new U.N. presence, which began with 2,000 personnel deployed this week, was intended to boost a sputtering and largely unsuccessful effort by the African Union forces to tamp down violence. An estimated 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million have been displaced in the fighting, according to human rights groups.

The flood of new U.N. troops will take several months to reach its target of 26,000, and Mr. de Waal said the effort could be hampered by the attack on the diplomat if more resources are redirected toward security for the troops.

The Sudanese government has resisted the surge, according to a report by the BBC World Service, and it is demanding that only Muslim and African troops be allowed to enter the area.

Also on Monday, a few hours before the shooting, President Bush signed a bill meant to pressure the Sudanese government that would allow individual state governments to divest from companies operating in the Sudan.

Mr. Bush had at first resisted the divestment bill, according to published reports, because he said it could interfere with foreign policy efforts to deal with the Darfur conflict.

The bill will add to current sanctions against Khartoum in response to a conflict that the president has called a genocide — a designation the Sudanese government has denied.

It was unclear yesterday whether the diplomat’s death was related to terrorism. A Sudanese state news agency, SUNA, quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ali Al-Sadik, as saying that the Sudanese government would investigate until the culprits were arrested and brought to justice.

The spokesman also told SUNA that the Sudanese government “would spare no efforts in providing security and protection” to foreign diplomats.

A USAID administrator, Henrietta Fore, said in a statement that the agency was working with local officials to investigate the death.

A Sudanese activist in Iowa who emigrated to America 18 years ago and who yesterday organized a protest against the Darfur violence, Simon Deng, said Granville’s death only emphasized the continuing crisis there.

“It is not an isolated incident,” he told The New York Sun. “People forget always when it comes to Sudan, Sudan is a terrorist government.”

According to reports by the New York Times and other press outlets that cited Western officials, Granville was leaving a New Year’s Eve party in the capital shortly after midnight when his car, driven by Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, 39, who was identified by USAID, was cut off by another car carrying assailants who fired numerous times at the embassy vehicle.

The driver, a Sudanese national, was killed instantly, and Granville died later after being treated at both Khartoum Hospital and Fedeel Medical Center.

Granville had called his mother before he left for the party to wish her a happy new year, according to reports. A few hours later, she received the call informing her that he had been killed, the reports said.

“John’s life was a celebration of love, hope and peace,” a statement the family released to the Associated Press said.

Granville attended Fordham University and earned a master’s in international development from Clark University, according to the statement. Although he recognized the danger of his position, the family’s statement said he had been in love with foreign aid work since traveling to Cameroon with the Peace Corps.