AU says Minawi troops kill two peacekeepers in darfur

March 6, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — The African Union accused a former rebel group of killing two African peacekeepers in Sudan’s violent west. A press release issued by the AU said former Darfur rebel troops opened fire on them on Tuesday.

Soldiers of the Sudan Liberation Movement faction led by Minni Minawi, which signed a peace deal with the government in May 2006, killed two in Graida, in South Darfur, and a third soldier was critically injured, the AU Mission in Sudan said today in a press release.

One AU source said the dead AU soldiers were Nigerian.

“This deplorable and condemnable act was perpetrated by gunmen believed to be elements belonging to SLM/A (Minni), which is in full control of Graida.” said the AUMIS.

This accident brings to a total of 11 AU military personnel killed on duty and one (1) missing, since the AU started its mission in Darfur in 2004.

The Acting Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mrs Monique Mukaruliza, condemned “these heinous and cowardly acts.”

According to the UN new bulletin, in reaction to the SLM-Minawi soldiers shooting and the detention of two Sudanese government security officials on 4 March, GoS National Security intervened and exchanged fire with the Minawi soldiers.

Earlier on the same day, the DPA Implementation Office in Al-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, was surrounded by about thirty (30) armed elements belonging to Movements who have signed the DPA and the Declaration of Commitment (DOC). They threatened the Officer-in-Charge of the facility.

In Gereida last year one aid worker was raped during a coordinated attack on humanitarian agencies in the town which is controlled by Minni forces.

(ST)

Below the text of the AU press release:-

The Acting Special Representative of the Chairperson of the AU Commission (Ag SRCC) is again saddened by the attack yesterday, 05 March 2007, in Graida on an AMIS team on administrative duty, where two AU Protection Force soldiers were abducted and subsequently killed. A third soldier was critically injured. This brings to a total of 11 AU military personnel killed on duty and one (1) missing. This deplorable and condemnable act was perpetrated by gunmen believed to be elements belonging to SLM/A (Minni), which is in full control of Graida.

Earlier on the same day, the DPA Implementation Office in El Fasher was surrounded by about thirty (30) armed elements belonging to Movements who have signed the DPA and the Declaration of Commitment (DOC). They threatened the Officer-in-Charge of the facility.

On behalf of the entire leadership of the African Union Commission, the Ag SRCC unreservedly condemns these heinous and cowardly acts. She further stresses that AMIS is here to help achieve peace in Darfur, and is therefore not, and should not be part of the problem. Mindful of the fact that Graida is in the hands of SLM/A (Minni), Mrs Mukaruliza calls on the leadership of the Movement to fully cooperate with AMIS in investigating this dastardly act, bringing the perpetrators to book and recovering the hijacked vehicle. Preliminary accounts of the incident, indeed, indicate that the perpetrators are known elements in Graida who could be easily identified.

The Ag. SRCC is deeply concerned that these and other recent incidents of this nature occurred in El Fasher and Graida, both of them strongholds of the Signatories. She therefore urges the Government, as well as the leadership of the SLM (Minni), the SLM (Free Will) and the JEM (Peace Wing) to prevail on their elements to desist from carrying out attacks against AMIS and its personnel and, instead, cooperate with the Mission, which is working hard and in difficult conditions, to help bring peace to Darfur.

AMIS Headquarters

06 March 2007