Posted on 05/26/2007 9:28:36 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
KHARTOUM, Sudan - A United Nations peacekeeper who was among a small group of reinforcements sent to Darfur was shot to death at his residence — the world body's first casualty since its long-negotiated arrival in the troubled region, officials said Saturday.
Gunmen looted the home of the U.N. peacekeeper — an Egyptian lieutenant colonel — in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, and fatally shot him late Friday, the African Union and U.N. said.
"The senseless killing of an innocent man in the confines of his residence is beyond comprehension," said Hassan Gibril, the deputy head of the AU mission, at a memorial for Lt. Col. Ehab Nazir.
The gunmen who killed him were thought to be burglars, but an official close to the investigation said authorities would not exclude other motives. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
In Cairo, the foreign ministry deplored the Egyptian officer's death and condemned in a statement the "sinful aggression" in which Nazir became the "casualty of an attack by armed elements."
The AU has faced increased hostility from warring factions in Darfur, and has lost 19 of its own peacekeepers since it first deployed in June 2004.
"Not a month goes by without a new killing, it's very difficult," said Mezni.
The U.N. began deploying some 180 staff to Darfur in December to bolster the overwhelmed 7,000-strong AU mission.
This "light support package" is part of a broader agreement that should lead to 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers moving into Darfur in 2007, but the AU and U.N. both acknowledge that even the first batch of 180 reinforcements have not yet all arrived.
The Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir has rejected a U.N. resolution for some 22,000 U.N. peacekeepers to replace the AU in Darfur, where over 200,000 people have been killed and 2,5 million chased from their homes in four years of fighting.
Since then, the Sudanese government, the U.N. and the AU continue to negotiate a compromise for U.N. forces to help end Darfur's violence.
The Left would have us out of Iraq, where we have serious national interests, and into Dafur, where we have none.
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but it's for the children, yaknow.
A Sudanese girl rides a donkey on her way to collect water supplies in the West Darfur town of Mukjar, Sudan, April 22, 2007. Mukjar offers a sobering look at the results of a government victory: Impoverished and frightened ethnic Africans huddle in refugee camps where they survive on humanitarian aid, while Arab nomads control the hinterland, threatening any farmer who tries to return. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
AU Commission Chairman Alpha Oumar Konare speaks to the media in April 2007. The Security Council on Friday endorsed a report on a planned UN-African Union (AU) joint peacekeeping mission in Darfur that calls on Khartoum to allow a mobile force of up to 23,000 troops and police in the war-torn region.(AFP/File/Peter Busomoke)
Security Council drops appeal to Sudan - ap / Edith Lederer
UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council dropped an appeal Friday urging Sudan to quickly allow a robust peacekeeping force in violence-wracked Darfur, approving instead a watered-down statement that took the focus off the Sudanese government.
The United States had drafted a presidential statement calling on Sudan, "to cooperate fully in ... the expeditious start-up and implementation," of a highly mobile and robust hybrid force of African Union and U.N. peacekeepers.
The AU and U.N. on Thursday proposed tripling the number of peacekeepers in Darfur with the force of at least 23,000 soldiers and police allowed to launch pre-emptive attacks to stop violence.
But after lengthy discussions among council experts and ambassadors Friday, the council eliminated all references to the Sudanese government, which has not given a green light to the deployment of the hybrid force.
The presidential statement, read at a formal meeting by U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, the current council president, demanded that all parties "meet their international obligations."
The change was a clear indication of the continuing international discord over how best to halt the ongoing bloodshed in Darfur. The negotiations on the presidential statement were held behind closed doors and council diplomats said there were some objections to pressuring the Khartoum government directly. While some countries are concerned that pressure could backfire, others have been accused of protecting Sudan, for a variety of reasons including their own economic and political interests.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Sudan's U.N. Ambassador Abdelmahmood Abdelhaleem on Friday morning and handed him a copy of the report. Abdelhaleem told reporters later that his government would study it.
Despite the changes, Khalilzad called Friday's statement, "a good statement that not only welcomed this development but also called on the parties concerned, including the government of Sudan to observe its obligations."
He then read the key sentence from the statement, which says: "The Security Council further demands that all parties meet their international obligations; support the political process; end violence against civilians and attacks on peacekeepers; and facilitate humanitarian relief."
The four-year conflict between ethnic African rebels and pro-government janjaweed militia in the vast western Darfur region has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 2.5 million Darfurians. The beleaguered, 7,000-strong African Union force has been unable to stop the fighting, and Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir has stalled implementation of the hybrid force — the last part of a three-phase U.N. plan to back up the African troops.
In Friday's statement, the council called for "full implementation without delay" of the first two phases — a light support package including U.N. police advisers, civilian staff and additional resources and technical support, and a heavy support package with 3,000 U.N. troops, police and civilian personnel along with six attack helicopters and other equipment.
When Khalilzad read the presidential statement the first time, it included a demand for all parties to "abide by the cease-fire, including the cessation of aerial bombardment." The U.S. had proposed this language but it had been dropped in the final text and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin could be seen on in-house television getting up, apparently to protest.
After about 15 minutes, Khalilzad called a second council meeting and read the correct statement.
Council diplomats said he was handed the wrong statement to read. "It was late in the day, Friday, administration under a degree of stress — but you know, we're all human beings. It happens," Khalilzad said afterwards.
"We remain concerned about ongoing aerial bombardment of targets in Darfur," the U.S. ambassador said. "We remain concerned about the fact that the janjaweed have not been disarmed yet."
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