UN dispatches a military official to probe peacekeepers in Sudan’s Abyei

June 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) — The United Nations is dispatching a military official to Abyei to probe the action of Zambian blue helmets deployed in the contested aria during the violent clashes between northern and southern Sudanese forces.

The death of 22 northern Sudanese soldiers escorted by UN peacekeepers in an ambush by southern troops on 19 May, pushed the Sudan Armed Forces to take the control of Abyei two days later. Southern Sudanese officials in the area said some 100 people dead since the capture of the area.

Reports from the area cited looting of Abyei’s shops and civilians properties and belongings as the latter fled the area after its seizure by the northern Sudanese forces. Pictures aslo showed the ransacking of UN WFP stocks as the peacekeepers patrols pass near the looters.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) said yesterday it is dispatching a military adviser to Abyei region to assess the performance of the peacekeepers deployed in the region.

DPKO top military adviser General Babacar Gaye, from Senegal, is heading to Abyei to “determine the circumstances surrounding recent events,” spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux told AP on Saturday.

A UN diplomat said the Zambian forces “locked themselves up for a couple of days.” He further added “They were then instructed to come out of their barracks and start patrolling, but they had already lost a crucial 48 hours.”

In May 2008 during bloody clashes between the northern and southern troops in Abyei, UN diplomats also highlighted the poor performance of the Zambian peacekeepers.

The UN Security Council During the last week of June 2008 demanded to the Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon to investigate the inaction of the peacekeepers at the time.

The former head of UN mission in Sudan Ashraf Qazi, at the time said the UNMIS has “neither the capacity nor the mandate to militarily intervene or to provide law enforcement functions.” Law enforcement is the government’s responsibility, he added.

UNMIS current chief, Haile Menkerios, recently told the Security Council that he was not satisfied with the performance of the Zambians in the disputed area.

Menkerios nonetheless underlined that peacekeepers on the ground are under-equipped, underfunded and undertrained.

“It was a wake-up call to the council that we need to get better troops,” a diplomat told Reuters.

(ST)