UN Security Council urges to bring UNAMID attackers to justice

November 7, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – The UN Security Council urged the Sudanese government to bring to justice those who attack the peacekeepers of the joint African Union United Nations mission operating in Darfur (UNAMID).

The call comes after the killing of a Sierra Leone’s solider and the injury of two others near the capital of South Darfur Nyala by unidentified armed men three weeks after the death of three peacekeepers in Zam Zam camp near el-Fasher, capital of North Darfur.

The Sudanese authorities have the obligation to protect the members of the mission serving in Darfur in accordance to an agreement between the UN and the government. Khartoum says peacekeepers have to indicate in advance their destination, a request the UNAMID declines.

Portugal’s Ambassador José Filipe Moraes Cabral who holds the UNSC presidency for this month, issued a statement Monday condemning “in the strongest terms,” the attack on the peacekeepers which amounts to a crime of war under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The members of the Security Council in a statement, ‘called on the Government of Sudan to bring the perpetrators to justice, and stressed that there must be an end to impunity for those who attack peacekeepers.’

The UNAMID said that a suspect, apprehended by the peacekeepers after the attack, was handed over to the Sudanese police.

Ibrahim Gambari, head of the hybrid operation, condemned the attack in a statement released on Monday and urged the Sudanese authorities to probe the assault and to bring the perpetrators to justice “as soon as possible.”

Sunday’s death bring the number of UNAMID peacekeepers killed in Darfur since the mission deployed in 2007 to 34.

Last September the UNMAID donated 25 vehicles to the Sudanese police to reinforce the capabilities of police units working in Darfur.

(ST)