Darfur Peace and Development

December 4, 2009 (KHARTOUM) — The joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) lost today two soldiers who were killed in an attack by unknown hostiles in North Darfur.

A Rwandan UN Peacekeeper waits to board a UN plane at Kigali Airport in November 2005 to be dispatched to Sudan’s capital Khartoum.

The attack occurred while the Rwandan peacekeepers were collecting water in the government militia stronghold location of Saraf Umra on Friday.

The attack brought to 17 the number of peacekeepers “killed in a hostile confrontation since the mission deployed” in January 2008, the UNAMID said today.

The wounded soldiers were transferred to the capital of North Darfur where are the headquarters of the mission. However the UNAMID didn’t disclose their number.

Two years after the start of its take over from the African mission, there are some 14,638 military personnel out of the total 19,555, and 4,449 police deployed in the restive region of Darfur. Also the hybrid operation still lacks funding and logistical materials.

The new chief of the peacekeeping mission Nigerian diplomat, Ibrahim Gambari, will officially assume his post in January 2010.

(ST)