Seven peacekeepers killed in Sudan's Darfur: UNAMID

KHARTOUM - Agence France-Presse

Peace-keepers with the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) patrol the Shangli Tobaya area for displaced people in North Darfur state, on June 18. AFP photo

Seven peacekeepers were killed on July 13 in Sudan's Darfur region, the African Union-UN Mission said, marking the worst-ever losses in the five-year history of the operation.

UNAMID released few initial details of the incident, which adds to worsening violence in Sudan's far-west region and happened near the peacekeepers' base at Manawashi, north of the South Darfur state capital Nyala.

"Seven peacekeepers were killed and 17 were injured," said UNAMID's acting spokesman Christopher Cycmanick.

The incident occurred about 25 kilometres (16 miles) west of another UNAMID base at Khar Abeche, Cycmanick said.

The patrol "was going from one team site to another," he added.

UNAMID did not immediately give the nationalities of the victims, but Tanzanian troops are in charge of that area.

Earlier this month three Tanzanian peacekeepers were wounded and an ambulance with their patrol was shot up in Labado, east of Nyala, Hervé Ladsous, the UN's Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping, announced during a visit to Sudan. The peacekeepers killed at least one attacker, he said.

More than 40 UNAMID members have died in hostile action since the mission's establishment in 2007.

But U.N. sources have said they were unaware of anybody previously being held accountable in Sudan for killing a peacekeeper, despite repeated U.N. calls for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

In April, a Nigerian peacekeeper was killed and two others were wounded in an assault against their base east of Nyala.

At the time, local sources said the fatal attack appeared to have been planned and carried out by government-linked forces, but authorities denied such a connection.

A UN panel of experts earlier this year reported that former members of government militias "have forcibly expressed their discontent with the current government," including through occasional cases of "direct attacks on UNAMID staff and premises".

Rebels have been fighting for 10 years in Sudan's far-western Darfur and have contributed to some of the unrest this year.