Peacekeeper shot dead in Darfur

Published Aug 13, 2012

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Khartoum - One international peacekeeper from Bangladesh was killed on Sunday when unknown gunmen opened fire on a United Nations police station in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN and African Union-led peacekeeping force there said.

Gunmen surrounded the police station inside Otash camp in Nyala and opened fire, the UN/AU-led (UNAMID) force said in a statement, adding that another peacekeeper had been wounded.

Nyala, the biggest city in Darfur, has been the scene of anti-government protests. At least eight civilians were killed in clashes between police and protesters earlier this month.

Mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in 2003, complaining the central government in Khartoum had neglected the remote western region.

Violence has since subsided from its peak, but law and order has collapsed in many parts of the vast territory and clashes have continued to erupt between rebels and government forces.

The government signed a Qatar-brokered peace deal with small rebel groups a year ago but the main rebel groups have refused to join.

The International Criminal Court has indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and issued an arrest warrant for Defence Minister Abdel Raheem Muhammad Hussein for war crimes in Darfur. - Reuters

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