Paul Ohia With Agency Report
17 July 2008
Lagos — A Nigerian soldier working as United Nation-African Union Peacekeeper was shot and killed in Sudan's western Darfur region, a UN spokeswoman said yesterday.
This brings to 14 Nigerian peacekeepers killed in Darfur and 32 in all, with other countries' casualty added. Last week militiamen killed seven peacekeepers.
The peacekeeper for the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID) was killed while on patrol in West Darfur, UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters. She had no other details.
Also a statement made available to THISDAY by the joint African Union - United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), signed by acting Spokesperson, Josephine Guerrero, yesterday said the mission has received information that one of its peacekeepers had been killed in Forobaranga in West Darfur while on patrol.
"Investigations are on-going and further information will be made available. UNAMID condemns all acts of violence," it concluded.
A UN official said the incident took place shortly before 5 p.m. local time, and that the peacekeeper was Nigerian.
Last week UNAMID soldiers and police were ambushed on a routine patrol by about 40 vehicles full of armed militia in North Darfur. Seven were killed, while over 20 were wounded.
A senior Security Council diplomat said yesterday that in a closed briefing after the attack, UN peacekeeping Chief, Jean-Marie Guehenno, gave details pointing to links between the militia and the Sudanese government. Khartoum has denied involvement.
Its UN Ambassador, Abdalmahmoud Abdalhaleem, has blamed the attack on a major Darfur rebel group, SLM Unity. No information was available about who carried out the attack.
UN officials say UNAMID personnel are on high alert after Monday's request by the International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, that the court issue an arrest warrant for Sudanese President, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on suspicion of masterminding genocide in Darfur.
Three Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush near Kourabishi on October 8, 2005, two AU civilian contractors were also killed in the attack.
In the same vein, one Nigerian soldier was killed when his patrol was attacked on the road between the AU camp and the town of Masteri on May 29, 2006. A Rwandan soldier was electrocuted on the same day.
Later the same year, two Nigerian soldiers were abducted in El Fasher on December 10, 2006, one was later released but the other was not and is presumed dead.
On March 6, 2007, two Nigerian soldiers were killed in an ambush near Kourabishi. Towards the end of that year, seven Nigerian, one Malian, one Senegalese and one Botswanan soldier were killed when their base was overrun by 1,000 rebels in Haskanita on September 30, 2007.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
