Are you using a 64bit Linux?
The way I got mine to work which may work for you is:
-editing the ufoai file (the one that is in the ufoai folder)
-changing the GAME BINARY field to read "ufo.x86_64"; ie.:
# The game binary
GAME_BINARY="ufo.x86_64"
-saving the file
-using the ufoai script to launch the game - this can be done in the terminal by navigating to the install folder ("cd ~[whatever]~/ufoai") and typing "./ufoai"
Only do this if you have 64bit Linux - and it might be the case that you wont have the ufo.x86_64 file if you don't and didn't install the 64bit binaries.
This, as I say, might work. It worked for me, though I never had any red/black screen. It's a different approach to the launching problem. If it doesn't apply to you, then ignore this - it may help someone though!