Security Council slams attacks on AU troops, civilians in Darfur

Oct 13, 2005(UNITED NATIONS) — The UN Security Council on Thursday slammed the recent upsurge of violence in Sudan’s restive Darfur region and urged the Khartoum government and rebels to respect their ceasefire accord and move to toward a peace settlement.

A Rwandan soldier belonging to the African Union Force patrols a section of the Abu Shouk displaced camp in the outskirts of El-Fasher, Sudan, Jan 10, 2005. (AFP) .

In a statement read by its president for the month, Romanian ambassador Mihnea Motoc, the 15-member council expressed its “deep concern at recent reports of an upsurge of violence in Darfur by all sides and insists that all parties strictly abide by the demands and commitments made” in a 2004 ceasefire accord.

The bodies of two Nigerian African Union peacekeepers who had gone missing after a deadly Darfur ambush last week were found Thursday.

“They were found dead today, a few metres (yards) away from the site of the ambush in Menawash, in the Khorabashi area,” an AU spokesman told AFP.

The two had been missing since two other Nigerian peacekeepers and two civilian contractors were killed on Saturday. Three other troops were wounded and remain in serious condition.

The security council also condemned recent deadly attacks by pro-government militia and government forces on civilians,

It expressed concern about the impact of the violence on ongoing humanitarian operations in Darfur and about a UN finding that there had been “no visible effort by the (Khartoum) government to disarm the (pro-government) militia (that are terrorizing the people of Darfur) or hold them to account in accordance with past agreements.”

It said the Darfur rebel groups had also failed to control their troops.

The council reiterated its support for the African Union mission tasked with monitoring respect of the ceasefire and to the peace talks being held in Abuja, Nigeria.

On Wednesday, a spokeswoman in Khartoum said the United Nations mission in Sudan has declared much of Darfur unsafe for humanitarian operations.

She cited the upsurge in violence and the brief abduction of nearly 40 other AU personnel by rebel forces as major causes for concern.

Between 180,000 and 300,000 people have died in Darfur since a civil conflict between rebels and government-backed Arab militias erupted in February 2003, with some 2.6 million civilians left homeless.

(AFP)