AU peacekeepers in Darfur freed: official

Oct 10, 2005 (KHARTOUM) — Most of the 40 African Union (AU) peacekeepers taken hostage by rebels in western Sudan’s troubled Darfur region are believed to have been freed, an AU official told AFP Monday.

“According to our information and with some reservation, we can say that there was a happy ending as most hostages were released,” AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni told AFP.

He said the AU mission’s commander in chief Festus Owkonko was heading to Tine, where the abductions took place Sunday near the border with Chad, to assess the situation on the ground.

Confusion reigned on Saturday when the capture of two and then 18 AU staff was reported followed by that of their rescuers. There were also conflicting reports about the identity of their abductors.

Mezni said they were believed to be members of a dissident faction of Darfur’s rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).

A JEM official said the insurgent leader they suspected of being behind the kidnapping had been drummed out of the movement.

The kidnappings occurred on the heels of a bloody ambush by yet another Darfur rebel group that left three AU troops and two contractors dead on Saturday.

It was the first time the AU has suffered fatalities in the conflict-torn Sudanese region where it has some 6,300 troops monitoring a fragile ceasefire between black African rebels and government-backed Arab militias.

It is looking to increase its contingent to 7,700.

An estimated 180,000 to 300,000 people have died in Darfur since the civil conflict erupted in February 2003, with some 2.6 million civilians left homeless.

The latest killings occurred as the warring parties entered a new round of peace talks in the Nigerian capital of Abuja on September 15.

(AFP/ST)