From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Thu Jul 10 2008 - 11:36:35 EDT
Darfur rebels condemn killings of 7 peacekeepers
Darfur rebel groups condemn attack that killed 7 peacekeepers from joint
UN-AU force
SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press Writer
AP
Updated: 7:33 PM ET Jul 10, 2008
The two main Darfur rebel groups condemned on Thursday an attack that killed
seven peacekeepers from a joint U.N.-African Union force and wounded nearly
two dozen.
The United Nations said Tuesday's attack involved about 200 gunmen on
horseback and in SUVs mounted with anti-aircraft and anti-tank weapons. The
U.N. did not blame any group for the attack, but the description of gunmen
on horseback strongly suggests they belong to the janjaweed militia of
pro-government Arab nomads.
Mohammed Bashir, a senior member of the rebel Sudanese Liberation Movement,
described the attack as "terrorist and coward." The rebel Justice and
Equality Movement also distanced itself from the attack in a statement that
called the ambush a "sinful aggression."
The U.N. said a patrol of 61 Rwandan soldiers, 10 civilian police officers
and two military observers was on its way back to its camp after
investigating recent killings of civilians in North Darfur state when it was
ambushed by militants driving vehicles armed with anti-tank and
anti-aircraft weapons. They fought fierce gunbattles that lasted more than
two hours, U.N. officials said. Five Rwandan soldiers and two police
officers, one from Ghana and the other from Uganda, were killed.
The ambush took place near the village of Umm Hakibah, about 60 miles
southeast of the North Darfur capital, El Fasher.
The U.N.-AU mission known as UNAMID deployed Jan. 1 with about 9,000
soldiers and police officers. But it has since struggled to fulfill its
peacekeeping mission, hindered by a lack of crucial equipment, including
attack helicopters.
The force is authorized to have 26,000 members, but it is faced with chronic
shortages of staff and equipment and less-than-adequate cooperation from the
Sudanese government.
The peacekeepers mostly patrol Darfur, helping protect unarmed civilians in
the many camps of the displaced and mediate between fighting factions. But
they often have little access to wide swaths of the remote western Sudanese
region roughly the size of France.
The peacekeeping force has been unable to persuade the U.S. and other
governments to supply attack and transport helicopters, surveillance
aircraft, military engineers and logistical support it needs to safely
navigate Darfur.
The Darfur conflict has claimed up to 300,000 lives and uprooted 2.5 million
people since ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated
government in 2003. Critics accuse Sudan of arming janjaweed Arab militias
that have terrorized Darfur villages — a charge Khartoum denies.
The U.N. and AU have tried for months to open new peace talks between Sudan
and rebel groups, which have splintered into more than two dozen factions,
following the failure of a 2005 agreement to stem violence. But most rebel
chiefs are boycotting the negotiations.
Initially, African Union peacekeepers were deployed to patrol Darfur, but
staff and equipment shortages left them ill-prepared to fend off attacks. In
October, 10 AU peacekeepers were killed in an ambush on a military base in
northern Darfur blamed on rebels.
The joint U.N.-AU force was meant to beef up security in Darfur, but
banditry and other violence against both peacekeepers and civilians
continue. There have been at least seven attacks on the joint force over the
past six months.
Earlier this year, the U.N. said suffering in Darfur has worsened, forcing
tens of thousands of people to be uprooted from their homes. The U.N. World
Food Program said it had to cut food rations because of increasing banditry
against its drivers in the region.
One key stumbling block to the U.N.-AU force has been the Sudanese
government's reluctance to allow non-African troops into the region.
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