A Nigerian peacekeeper was killed and three wounded on Saturday in an ambush in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region.
The attack on the joint UN-AU peacekeeping force (UNAMID) took place near Saleah, Eastern State of Darfur.
Nigerian, Tanzanian and Egyptian troops operate in that area.
It was the first fatal attack on UNAMID peacekeepers this year, but more than 30 have died since the mission’s establishment in 2007.
Eleven staff members perished when the world body’s offices in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, were attacked by a suicide bomber on 26 August 2011. According to media reports, 23 people died in total as a result of the attack on UN House, while 116 others were injured.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed condemnation on the attack against the UNAMID peacekeepers. Mr. Ban urged the Government of Sudan to carry out a speedy investigation and to ensure the perpetrators are brought to justice.
06 January 2011
The head of UNAMID, Ibrahim Gambari, has called such attacks a war crime and said the government in Khartoum should do “much more” to address the impunity of the perpetrators.
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.
An estimated 1.9 million people are living in camps for those displaced by the conflict.
