Egyptian UN soldier killed in Sudan's Darfur

Horrible news. Several news reports today say UN Military Staff Officer Lt-Col Ehab Nazih was killed in Darfur on Friday. The soldier's name seemed familiar, so I searched Werner's blog, Soldier of Africa, and, sadly, found this photo and caption by Werner, dated December 05, 2006.

UN NGO's Leave El Fashier



This is Ehab Nazih from Egypt. He arrived at our house two days ago and was going to stay with us in the house. He works for the UN and today he was told that the UN international staff in El Fashier are withdrawing from the town until the situation stabilises. Half an hour after I took this photo today he was at the airport ready to leave for Khartoum. Does the UN know something we do not? If so please let me know. My e-mail is wklokow@yahoo.com

[http://rsasoldier.blogspot.com/2006/12/un-ngos-leave-el-fashier.html]

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Note, China's People's Daily news says "the Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman confirmed to Xinhua that the victim was Lieutenant Colonel Ihab Ahmad". But UN news says:

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today condemned the killing, during an armed robbery, of one of its soldiers serving in Darfur.

The Mission vowed to cooperate with the Sudanese authorities to apprehend the killers of Lt. Colonel Nazih, and hold them accountable. UNMIS said it is also taking urgent measures, in coordination with the Sudanese authorities, to prevent further attacks of this nature from taking place.

The circumstances surrounding the death of Lieutenant-Colonel Ehab Nazih, a Military Staff Officer from Egypt, are still under investigation, according to UNMIS, which confirmed that late Friday, three armed men, wearing civilian clothes, broke into the private house he shared with seven other UNMIS staff.

After taking money and valuables from the other occupants of the house, the armed men moved to the victim's room and demanded money from Lt. Colonel Nazih, who gave them all the money he had and was then shot.

He was rushed to the a Hospital run by the African Union Mission in Darfur (AMIS), where he was pronounced dead, UNMIS said, offering thanks to "the AMIS staff and medical personnel who did all they could to save the life of their UNMIS colleague." [via http://newsblaze.com - insert link]

From Reuters Khartoum 26 May 2007 [insert link]:

A U.N. officer deployed to Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region to support African Union peacekeepers has been killed by robbers at his residence in el-Fasher, an African Union spokesman said on Saturday.

The spokesman said the officer was an Egyptian national deployed to Darfur as part of a United Nations light support package to assist roughly 7,000 African Union peacekeepers trying to quell violence in Sudan's west.

"The robbers entered the house, shot the officer and took some property," AU spokesman Noureddine Mezni said. "He is an Egyptian military officer."

Mezni said the officer, a lieutenant colonel, was shot and wounded on Friday evening and died of his wounds on Saturday morning in el-Fasher, the capital of north Darfur state.

He said the man was killed at a rented house used by U.N. personnel working with AU peacekeepers. He said the house was located about 1 km from AU force headquarters in el-Fasher.

Mezni said the acting head of the African Union mission in Sudan, Monique Mukaruliza, had "expressed her shock and condemned the killing in the strongest terms".

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Tribute to the late Egyptian military of UN LSP Mission in Darfur

Update: Via Sudan Tribune May 26 May 2007 [insert link to http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article22055] - excerpt

Yesterday night, at 2330hrs, three unidentified armed men scaled the walls of the home of Lieutenant-Colonel Ehrb Nazir, member of UNMIS and staff officer of the Light Support Package, from Egypt, and trying to rob him, shot at him.

Lt Col Nazir was born on 6 May 1967 in Cairo. He joined the Egyptian Army in 1988 and arrived in the mission on the 26 July 2006 and thereafter assigned to AMIS Headquarters in the Joint Logistics Operations Centre (JLOC). He made a sound contribution to AMIS operations and expected to end his one year tour of duty this July 2007. He previously participated in a UN PKO in Morocco. Minutes before the incidents, he had just finished a telephone conversation with his wife and the two daughters back home in Egypt.

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Death of a Soldier



Photo: Two more AU soldiers from Nigeria have been killed in Darfur.  (Source: Soldier of Africa blog by Werner, K - Taken on March 11, 2007 - insert link)
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Five AU soldiers killed in Darfur



Photo: An army officer carries posthumous medals to be awarded to five Senegalese peacekeepers killed in Darfur during a memorial service in Dakar, April 12, 2007. Senegal said on Thursday it might withdraw its troops from the African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region unless the continental body took action to ensure the force was better equipped to defend itself. (Reuters/Diadie Ba Apr 12 2007)