| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Horn |
| UN members visit Darfur as peacekeeper abducted |
| 2010-10-09 |
| [Pak Daily Times] A UN Security Council team visiting Darfur expressed deep concerns on Friday over the increase in violence in the western Sudanese region, worries that were underscored by the kidnapping the previous day of a peacekeeper serving with the joint UN-African Union mission in the area. The UN members are on a fact-finding trip that started in southern Sudan earlier in the week, ahead of a January independence referendum that will determine whether the south will split off from the rest of the country. There are fears the vote could lead to a new outbreak of north-south civil war in Sudan, Africa's largest country. As the UN delegation arrived in Darfur on Thursday, gunnies raided a residence housing four international peacekeepers in downtown El Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur state, according to UNAMID front man Kemal Saiki. Saiki said the gunnies tied up the four peacekeepers, then kidnapped two of them. One beat feet while the other is still missing. It was the first attack on UNAMID troops in central El Fasher. Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the U.N., said the attack didn't appear linked to the UN visit but that it was a sign of the recent uptick in violence. The Council members said they were particularly alarmed with attacks targeting the international peacekeepers and aid workers operating in Darfur. "There is a climate of insecurity here in Darfur and the level of violence has gone up this year, compared to previous years," Lyall Grant said. "We are very concerned," he said. "I think it is an indication of the very difficult conditions in which all the UN workers and international workers are operating in here in Darfur," Lyall Grant said. Saiki, the UNAMID front man, said the attackers made away in a car belonging to the peacekeepers. "One staff opened the door and threw himself out," he said, adding that the mission hadn't heard from the attackers so far. He did not identify the nationalities of the kidnapped peacekeepers. "We had incidents of carjacking. We have incidents of armed robberies ... to my knowledge, as far as I can remember, this is the first time this happened here in El Fasher," he said. Kidnappings are common in Darfur and kidnappers have mostly have demanded ransom in recent cases, but some have made political statements. When voicing their concerns, Council members were met with denial from North Darfur Governor Osman Kebir who claimed that the level of violence and crime rates are declining. Kebir accused the British ambassador of prejudice when Lyall Grant alleged that violent deaths have gone up 250 percent since last year. "You look at this with one eye, and you hear with one ear," responded Kebir. |
| Posted by:Fred |