Gboyega Akinsanmi With Agency Reports
8 October 2008
Lagos — Civil conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan yesterday resurged and killed another Nigerian soldier, who was on the peace-keeping mission in the conflict-ridden country until his demise.
Reuters News Agency broke the news of his death, stating that the deceased was killed in an ambush after up to 60 armed bandits ambushed his convoy in the Darfur region.
This is coming as Federal Government yesterday called on the 14th annual conference of the International Association of Peacekeeping Training Centres (IAPTC) to give concrete solutions to the challenges confronting peacekeeping operations in the present international scene.
The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, gave the charge yesterday at the opening of the conference with the theme: "The Changing Nature of Peace Operations - Implications for Education and Training."
The United Nations/African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) source said the Nigerian peacekeeper was the ninth officer to die in action in three months.
Quoted by Reuters, UNAMID spokesperson, Kemal Saiki, said the sergeant was shot when the attackers opened fire on the UNAMID patrol around 5 p.m Monday and died of his wounds before he could be evacuated to hospital.
Saiki said the convoy was attacked on patrol about 75km North of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur. He said it was not immediately clear who the attackers were.
According to him, seven members of the under-manned UNAMID force were shot and killed, and another 22 injured, in an ambush by militia fighters in North Darfur in early July. Just a week later, Saiki added, another Nigerian officer was killed in a car-jacking in West Darfur .
"UNAMID is responsible for keeping the peace in a war-torn region about the size of Spain. But with less than 10,000 soldiers and police on the ground, it is still far short of its promised strength of 26,000 personnel.
"UNAMID helicopters and officers, mostly from African nations, have come under fire several times since they came to Darfur at the beginning of the year, with the attacks blamed on bandits, rebel factions and government troops," he added.
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.
Read comments. Write your own.
