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Africa Horn
Darfur Peacekeepers Fire Back at Attackers
2014-05-09
[ AnNahar] Gunmen who attacked peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur were forced to retreat after a firefight, said Thursday the UNAMID mission which has come under calls to be more aggressive.
There's obviously a shortage of punctuation marks at AnNahar.
The incident happened on Sunday when a patrol of the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
-United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
 Mission in Darfur came under fire from unidentified gunnies near Sindy, about halfway between the North Darfur towns of Malha and Mellit.

Peacekeepers "returned fire and engaged the perpetrators, forcing them to retreat," UNAMID said in a statement to Agence La Belle France Presse.

The peacekeepers were not hurt.

UNAMID did not say which country the peacekeepers were from, but South African blue helmets operate in the Malha area.
South Africans? Where are the Nigerians? At least that'd explain why Boko Haram is running amok.
"Their reaction was very good," said a source familiar with the incident. "Perhaps it's the beginning of a new more aggressive posture."
Or perhaps they haven't been read the UN Rules of Engagement yet.
Attacks against UNAMID last year killed 16 peacekeepers and resulted in "significant loss of vehicles, weapons and ammunition," a February review of the mission by U.N. chief the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan...
 said.

The report said "shortfalls in the operational capabilities of several troop and police contingents," were partly to blame for limiting the mission's effectiveness in protecting civilians and aid deliveries in the region, which has suffered 11 years of war.
"Shortfalls" = higher level of graft than usual.
Ban said access restrictions imposed by Sudanese authorities also restrained UNAMID's effectiveness
."Stand there. No - where that big red circle is painted."
U.N. agencies wanted peacekeepers to adopt "a more robust posture" when faced with restrictions of movement to crisis-affected areas, he said.

The U.N. Security Council last month endorsed revised strategic priorities for the mission, including better protection of civilians and improved delivery of humanitarian aid.

"Janjaweed groups," or ethnic Arab militias, almost certainly played a leading role in two of the major fatal attacks against UNAMID last year, a U.N. panel of experts reported in February.

Sudan's government has said it is impossible that militia close to the regime have attacked peacekeepers.
"Impossible, I say! It must have been that other militia which is not so close to us. If you were downwind from them, you'd know why."
Posted by:trailing wife

#1  Geez, the UN actually gives ammunition to their peacekeepers?

amazing after Rwanda and Tbilisi, I had my doubts.
Posted by: Bill Clinton   2014-05-09 11:14  

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