A new wave of violence in the Sudanese region of Darfur
has claimed the lives of three United Nations peacekeepers, with a
curfew imposed on the biggest city in the region.
The central Khartoum government says it has sent more troops to the troubled region.
Three Senegalese soldiers of the joint
peacekeeping force of the UN and African Union Mission for Darfur
(UNAMID) were killed in an ambush Sunday night, the mission said in a
press statement on Monday.
"The ambush was committed by an unknown armed group near Genaina, the capital of West Darfur State," the statement seen by Africa Review said.
"The UNAMID soldiers were accompanying a convoy of
vehicles carrying water from Genaina to the headquarters of the UNAMID
in West Darfur," the mission added.
"The aggressors looted a vehicle of the UNAMID
convoy, but it was restored at an area which is seven kilometers far
from the incident area."
The special envoy of the UNAMID, Mohamed bin
Chambas, strongly condemned the attack, describing it as a serious
criminal act and called for those responsible to be brought to account.
A Zambian UNAMID officer was also killed last Friday by three armed men in Alfahir, northern of Darfur.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) say they are pursuing the aggressors and had engaged them in a firefight.
Lost soldiers
SAF force commander of the west Darfur component
Gen Major Abu Bakr Abdel-Razig confirmed that they had killed two
attackers, but lost four soldiers at the battle which took place a few
kilometers from Al-Ginena city.
"We lost four martyrs and killed two of the
attackers and we are still tracking the remaining," he said. "We want
more coordination with the UN forces to avoid such incidents."
Seven Tanzanian peacekeepers were killed and other 17 wounded when unidentified gunmen attack them in the region last July.
UNAMID soldiers continue to suffer attacks from
unknown gunmen in Darfur, a western Sudan region where insurgent groups
have been fighting for a decade and where tribal violence forced over
300,000 civilians to flee their villages.
According to a report the joint mission released
last July, UNAMID strength stands at 14,800, including 14,139 troops,
324 staff officers, 253 military observers and 84 liaison officers.
Curfew
According to aid organisations reports, 1.2
million people are living in the IDP (internally displaced people) camps
in Darfur and additional 300,000 persons have been displaced in the
region this year.
Meanwhile South Darfur state authorities have
announced a curfew in the capital of the state Nyala in an attempt to
control rising insecurity.
Witnesses from Nyala over the phone said that the curfew had been imposed from 7pm to 7am since Sunday night.
The biggest city of Darfur, Nyala, has seen many incidents of looting, kidnapping and rape over the last few weeks.
In another development Khartoum will send
reinforcement forces to the East Darfur state to halt ongoing looting
incidents to the goods convoys crossing from Khartoum to the other parts
of Darfur, state governor Abdul- hamid Mussa Kasha said.
The governor alleged that rebels were looking to create scarcity of goods in the region, and said they would not be allowed to.
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
SOURCE: AFRICA REVIEW
