Unidentified gunmen launched a deadly attack against UN peacekeepers in West Darfur in Sudan on Friday, in which four were wounded, one of whom subsequently died as a result of wounds sustained in the attack.
Reports say the attacks occured when the team of 32 officers had been patrolling in an IDPS camp and were returning to their base camp when men armed with AK-47 rifles attacked them, wounding two peacekeepers.
The peacekeepers had been serving with a formed police unit (FPU) patrol from Togo.
UN Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran
Reports say in the ensuing clash, which also involved an UNAMID rescue unit, another two peacekeepers were wounded.
Security Council today condemned “in the strongest terms” the attack against the UN peacekeepers.
“The members of the Security Council expressed their condolences to the family of the peacekeeper killed in the attack, as well as to the Government of Togo.” -Ambassador Susan Rice of the United States
Ms. Rice holds the Council’s presidency this month.
The Council called on the Government of Sudan to bring the perpetrators to justice and stressed that there must be an end to impunity for those who attack peacekeepers.”
Amb. Rice added that Council members reiterated their full support for UNAMID and called on all parties in Darfur to co-operate with the AU-UN mission.
The members of the Council also called on the Government of Sudan to bring the perpetrators to justice and stressed that there must be an end to impunity for those who attack peacekeepers.
On February this year, two peacekeepers serving in the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were wounded in an ambush in Sudan’s Darfur region.
Earlier this year, a Nigerian peacekeeper was killed and three wounded in an ambush in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.
A total of 10 UNAMID peacekeepers have been abducted since 2008, when the mission began its mandate to protect civilians in Darfur. At least 300,000 people have been killed and 2.7 million driven from their homes as a result of the fighting that has ravaged the region over the past seven years.
Renewed fighting in January has driven some 43,000 people from their homes, according to UNAMID, the more than 20,000-strong uniformed force set up in 2008 to help end a war between the Government, backed by its militia allies, and various rebel groups, which has killed at least 300,000 people and displaced 2.7 million others since it erupted in 2003.
Fighting between Sudanese Government troops and their allied militias and rebels has caused mass displacement of people in Darfur since 2003.
An estimated 1.9 million people are living in camps for those displaced by the conflict.
The 23,000-strong force of UNAMID, was set up in 2008 to help end a war between the Government, backed by its militia allies, and various rebel groups. At least 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million others have been driven from their homes since fighting erupted in 2003.
