UNHCR compound in south Sudan attacked, casualties

Mar 16, 2006 (GENEVA) — The U.N. refugee agency said on Thursday two armed gunmen attacked its compound in southern Sudan, shooting dead a local guard and leaving an expatriate staff member and another guard in a critical condition.

The attack occurred on Wednesday night in Yei, south Sudan and the two wounded employees were in hospital in Juba and would be evacuated to Nairobi, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement.

The international male staff member had been shot in the abdomen while the second guard was shot in the leg, it said.

The UNHCR has been preparing for the return of hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees from surrounding countries following a peace deal between the government and southern rebels in January 2005, which ended two decades of war.

Due to the attack, UNHCR suspended an operation planned to start next week to repatriate Sudanese refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Yei region, the statement said.

“This attack just underscores the difficulties UNHCR faces in our operations in south Sudan where we are trying to create an environment for thousands of refugees in neighbouring countries to be able to return home and stay home,” said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.

One of the two armed gunmen had been killed while the other was in detention in Yei, said spokeswoman Helene Caux. She gave no details of the identity of the expatriate staff member.

(Reuters)