Britain is urging the U.N. Security Council to condemn as a possible war crime an ambush last week that killed or injured more than two dozen peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region.
Tuesday's proposal came ahead of scheduled council debate over the status of the beleaguered U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force, which due to fears of increasing violence has been pulling out all but its most essential civilians. Britain's U.N. mission said it hoped the statement would be unanimously adopted as a formal council statement on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the commander of the joint force vowed Tuesday to keep operating and carrying out its U.N. mandate in the region.
We will continue to conduct patrols and security, as well as protect U.N. personnel and U.N. facilities on the ground, Gen. Martin Agwai said in a statement from El Fasher, the capital of the North Darfur state. We will continue to assist the humanitarian organizations to do their job of rendering humanitarian services to the people in Darfur.
On July 8, a convoy of 200 gunmen riding on horseback and SUVs mounted with anti-aircraft weapons ambushed dozens of U.N.-A.U. peacekeepers, killing seven and wounding at least 19 others in fierce battles that lasted more than two hours. Five of the 61 Rwandan soldiers and two police officers, one from Ghana and the other from Uganda, were killed.
The situation in Darfur was made more volatile by a request this week from the International Criminal Court for an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to Sudan's actions in the stricken zone.
Britain's proposed statement on last week's ambush would have the council say that it was particularly concerned that the attack was premeditated, deliberate and intended to inflict casualties, but also emphasize that attacks on U.N. peacekeepers during an armed conflict can constitute war crimes.
The peacekeeping force there is authorized to have 26,000 members, but is only about a third of that size due to chronic shortages of staff and equipment and less-than-adequate cooperation from the Sudanese government. Their mission is to try to protect unarmed civilians in the many camps for displaced people and to mediate among the fighting factions.
But the U.S. and other governments haven't provided the force with the needed attack and transport helicopters, surveillance aircraft, military engineers and logistical support to safely navigate the remote, wartorn region.
Fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination.
