Two peacekeepers serving in the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) today were wounded in an ambush in Sudan’s Darfur region.
According to media reports, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus in which they were travelling near the town of El Dein in the western Sudanese region.
The two police officers are members of the UNAMID’s formed police unit. Both reportedly sustained gunshot wounds in the incident.
They are currently receiving medical treatment in UNAMID’s hospital in the city of Nyala, South Darfur.
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.
