African Union peacekeeper killed, 3 others injured in Darfur
April 10, 2007 (NYALA) — Gunmen ambushed an African Union peacekeeping patrol Tuesday in Darfur, killing one soldier and critically injuring three others, the AU mission said.
The three soldiers, from Rwanda’s contingent to the AU mission, were part of a unit patrolling near a water point in the North Darfur sector of Sotorny. An AU car was hijacked during the assault, which took place in a zone controlled by the Sudan Liberation Movement rebels, the AU said.
“But there is no way to confirm whether our soldiers were attacked by the rebels until the investigation is complete,” said Moussa Hamani, an AU spokesman.
He said the three injured peacekeepers were in critical condition and had been medically evacuated to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
Rwanda has sent a contingent of about 1,700 troops to the AU mission, in what the Rwandan president has described as an effort to avoid another genocide in Africa.
More than 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since 2003, when local rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing it of decades of discrimination toward Darfur’s ethnic African tribes.
The International Criminal Court says the government retaliated by arming militias of Arab nomads known as the janjaweed, and has listed 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes against a Sudanese cabinet minister and a suspected janjaweed chief.
The AU mission recently has had a spate of casualties and attacks amid spiraling violence and lawlessness in Darfur. Five AU peacekeepers were slain in an ambush earlier this month, a day after a general acting as the AU’s deputy force commander narrowly escaped being gunned down in his helicopter as he was heading to a meeting with rebels.
There are also almost daily reports of vehicles being hijacked, aid workers assaulted and refugees harassed throughout Darfur.
The latest attack brought to 17 the number of peacekeepers killed since the 7,000-strong AU mission began deploying in Darfur in 2004. In December, an AU officer was kidnapped and is thought to be held hostage.
Darfur civilians, especially the 2 million living in refugee camps, have voiced increasing frustration at the ill-equipped and understaffed AU force, which they say doesn’t do enough to protect them. The region’s rebels also claim the mission has become biased in favor of the Sudanese government and cannot be trusted.
Vast sectors of Darfur, a region nearly the size of Texas, are off limits to the peacekeepers. But the Sudanese government opposes a plan by the United Nations to replace them with a 22,000-strong U.N. force.
(AP)
Below the text of the AUMIS press release:
PRESS COMMUNIQUE
Today, 10th April 2007, unidentified armed men attacked an AMIS patrol team at Kube Water Point, near Sortony, in North Darfur.
In this new barbaric attack, 3 AMIS Protection Force soldiers were seriously wounded and one AMIS vehicle was taken away by the attackers.
Regrettably, one of the injured soldiers later died as a result of injuries suffered during the attack.
Investigations into this incident will be carried out to determine the circumstances under which this attack happened and to identify the assailants and their motives.
AMIS Information Department.
Khartoum, 10 April, 2007