UN helicopter crashes in Darfur, one missing

Jan 25, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — One person was missing after a U.N. helicopter carrying 16 people crashed on Wednesday while evacuating aid workers in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region, the United Nations said.

A U.N. statement said none of the other passengers were seriously injured. Earlier the U.N. had said there were 13 people on board.

The African Union, which is monitoring a shaky ceasefire in the region, said the rebel Sudan Liberation Army attacked the government-held town of Golo earlier this week. About 60 aid workers have since been evacuated.

“A U.N. helicopter crashed today…near Golo in the Jebel Marra area where fighting has been taking place,” the U.N. statement said.

Other U.N. sources said the aircraft made a forced landing because of a problem with its rotor.

The missing person was an aid worker. More than 11,000 humanitarians are trying to provide food and shelter for more than 2 million people forced from their homes to refugee camps by three years of conflict in Darfur.

Darfur’s emergency prompted one of the largest humanitarian operations in the world, costing more than $1.5 billion.

Aid workers are often attacked by bandits or armed parties to the conflict in the remote region bordering Chad.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the fighting between mostly non-Arab rebels and the army allied with pro-government militias.

The militia have been accused of a campaign of rape, killing and looting, which Washington has described as genocide.

Khartoum denies genocide but the International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in Darfur.

(Reuters)