[El Fashir] – Five Rwandan UNAMID peacekeepers were killed in North Darfur in two separate incidents on Friday and Saturday.+ + + Rest In Peace + + +
The peacekeepers were distributing water to internally displaced persons.
On Friday, three peacekeepers were shot dead after coming under fire in North Darfur. Their two colleagues were killed on Saturday in a government-controlled area, also in North Darfur.
Ali Hamati, from the UNAMID press office, spoke to SRS from Darfur on Sunday.
[Ali Hamati]: “Unfortunately, the last incident happened on Saturday, just a day after the Friday incident in Saraf Omra. The last incident happened in Shangel Tobaya in North Darfur, and the Rwandan soldiers who belonged to UNAMID were apparently helping to distribute water to the citizens when they were attacked by people dressed in traditional attire and underneath the attire they had guns. Two peacekeepers working with UNAMID from Rwanda died on the spot and another, who was wounded in the attack, died later on.”
The governor of North Darfur, Mohamed Osman Kibir, announced on Saturday that the men behind the attacks had been arrested and had been transferred to El-Fashir.
On Sunday, the Rwandan government accused the government of Sudan of being behind the attacks.
The Secretary-General reiterates the commitment of the AU-UN mission to carry out its important work in Darfur. He notes the Government of Sudan’s rapid action to apprehend the alleged perpetrators and renews his call that those guilty of these cowardly attacks should be brought to justice immediately.- - -
The Secretary-General expresses his condolences to the families of the peacekeepers who lost their lives and to the Government of Rwanda and reiterates his appreciation for their service and commitment to the search for peace in Darfur.
UNITED NATIONS, November 30, 2009 -- The joint UN - African Union envoy post to Darfur has been the subject of "blackmail by the Nigerians," a well placed African Ambassador exclusively told Inner City Press on Monday morning, explaining the UN's offer of the post to Nigerian Ibrahim Gambari.
He said that "once the Nigerian threatened to pull their troops out of Darfur unless they get [Rodolphe] Adada's post," he and other candidates withdrew themselves from consideration "to avoid putting the Secretary General in an awkward position."
Previously, Rwanda threatened to pull its troops if it was not given the force commander post in UNAMID, vacated by Nigerian Martin Luther Agwai.
Now, the Ambassador said, "the Nigerians have given Ban Ki-moon a list of their nationals for consideration for the post." He added that while he understands that Ban will "give in" and name a Nigeria, it will not be one on the list provided by the country.
Asked about the possibility, reported months ago on June 19 by Inner City Press, of Ibrahim Gambari getting the post, the Ambassador nodded and said, "but it is not yet very open."
Subsequently, Inner City Press got confirmation of the post going to Gambari from a senior Ban administration adviser on the 38th floor, as well as individuals who have received confirmation from Mr. Gambari himself. He was getting shouldered out of his Development Fund for Iraq duties by Ad Melkert. He was known to be frustrated by Ban's political chief Lynn Pascoe not letting him work on any African issues. But who will take over for the UN in Myanmar? Watch this site.
One wonders what the U.S., France and UK, which criticized Rodolphe Adada's "too soft" stance to Ban Ki-moon, think of this process to replace Adada.
At a closed door lunch between the Security Council and Ban, the three Western Permanent member lambasted Adada's assessment of Darfur. Inner City Press has been told, by an attendee of the lunch, that rather than say he'd look into it -- or, as he has with Kai Eide in Afghanistan, that he fully supports "all" of his SRSGs, Ban said he agreed with the criticism and would talk to Adada. Then Adada was not renewed.
More recently, Ban's outgoing spokesperson has insisted that UN position like the contested number two post in the UN Development Program are given out on merit, not continent much less nationality. The process to replace Adada, as described by a withdrawn applicant, is at odds with this claim.
Following the Security Council's consultations about Darfur on November 30, Inner City Press asked outgoing Council president Thomas Mayr-Harting of Austria what the Council made of report that Sudan's Al Bashir government wants the UN to prepare to pull its peacekeepers out. Mayr-Harting said, that did not come up. Again.
Footnote: Mayr-Harting also said, in his final stakeout as Council President, that the Council would defer until its extension of the mandate UN Mission in the Congo the damning conclusions of the Congo Panel of Experts, including that the Mission, run by Alan Doss, is assisting and enabling former CNDP units which are now Congolese Army units and are involved in mining, including of gold.
U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, in a rare but still overly controlled stakeout Q &A before Mayr Harting's, spoke of the DRC sanctions, alluding to Sixty Minutes' November 29 piece on the topic, as well as Somalia. Inner City Press has submitted written questions on these and another topic to the U.S. Mission, which says it will respond when possible. Watch this site.
Rwanda-Darfur Redeployments: Rwanda commits more than 150 peacekeepers to Darfur
More than 150 troops from the 19th Battalion of the Rwandan Army left Kigali Friday morning for Sudan’s war-ravaged region of Darfur as part of the general rotational exercise of its 3,200 strong peace contingent, that have been maintaining peace in that region for a year now.
The departure of the 19th Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Rugigana Ngabo is part of the redeployment exercise that started at the end of October and is slated to be completed by December 18, according to the Rwandan military spokesman Major Jill Rutaremara, in an interview with APA at Kigali International airport.
The departure of the troops followed the arrival in Kigali of about 150 more troops that operated under the auspices of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) on Sunday.
According to Rutaremara, the new contingent of peacekeepers is replacing those whose mandated peacekeeping time of twelve months has expired. “There is nothing unusual expected of them but to continue from where their colleagues have stopped, provide peace and security for another twelve months to the Darfur people as they are mandated,” Maj. Rutaremara said.
According to the Rwandan military, with the new UN peacekeeping mission guidelines, each battalion is supposed to have about 800 soldiers, contrary to the normal battalion capacity of 680. The troops equipped with all infantry weapons for protection ranging from individual rifles to infantry support weapons, will be stationed in the west sector of Darfur region.
The four battalions for Darfur redeployment have been undergoing intensive training at Gako Military Academy supervised by US military experts in various peacekeeping skills and weapon handling. Two battalions have already left in the rotational exercise for the Darfur mission.
The US funds the Rwandan peacekeeping in Darfur at a tune of about US$7 million. Early September, the Rwanda military peace mission was boosted with equipment worth US$20 million. - SN/daj/APA
