Rwandan troops die in Darfur three days after arrival

October 28, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — Two Rwandan peacekeepers have died in a car crash barely three days after deploying in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur province, the African Union mission in Sudan said during a remembrance ceremony Sunday.

The two men died “in a traffic accident whilst performing their very first set of duties,” on Saturday, AU Deputy Head of Mission Hassan Gibril told the ceremony in Darfur’s main city of Al-Fasher.

An AU statement paid homage to the men, named as Nyirimigabo Ildephonse and Ndayishimiye Jean-Claude, who arrived in Darfur ahead of a bolstered hybrid AU-United Nations force of 26,000 due to be deployed later this year.

The war-ravaged western region is currently patrolled by an under-equipped AU force of around 7,000.

Last month, 10 AU peacekeepers were killed in an attack on their camp at Haskanita, the heaviest toll for the force since it was deployed in 2004.

(AFP)