Peacekeeper shot in carjacking in Darfur capital
December 28, 2008 (EL FASHER) – Armed men in the government garrison town and capital of North Darfur shot a peacekeeper in the leg during a car-jacking at El Fasher market on Saturday night.
The military officer was serving with the UN-African Union hybrid peacekeeping operation in Darfur (UNAMID). He was one of three UNAMID military officers who were car-jacked by three unknown armed men. The officers were forced to leave their vehicle and, in the process, one was shot. The car-jackers then drove off to the north with the vehicle.
The wounded officer was taken to UNAMID’s hospital in El Fasher for treatment and later evacuated to a hospital in Khartoum for further treatment.
UNAMID is usually reluctant to speculate about the identity of attackers. Numerous armed groups have been implicated in carjackings in Darfur, but the rebel movements are unlikely to be complicit in this attack, since they do not control El Fasher.
In November a specialized unit from UNAMID began nightly patrols to prevent carjackings in El Fasher. The troops for the night security patrols are drawn from UN Police Monitors and from the Indonesian Formed Police Unit (FPU), which is a type of mobile rapid reaction police unit serving with UNAMID.
Eleven UNAMID soldiers have died this year. Thus far there are 9,078 soldiers and 2,282 police deployed as UNAMID peacekeepers in Darfur, an area roughly the size of France.
UN officials said that some 300,000 people have died in the conflict and more than 2.7 million are displaced from the conflict in Darfur, which spilled over into neighbouring Chad.
(ST)