UN dispatches a military official to probe peacekeepers in Sudan’s Abyei
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June 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) --- The United Nations is dispatching a
military official to Abyei to probe the action of Zambian blue helmets
deployed in the contested aria during the violent clashes between
northern and southern Sudanese forces.
JPEG - 16.2 kb
Armored personnel carriers manned by Zambian soldiers serving with the
international peacekeeping force patrol the streets of Abyei, Sudan
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 - (UNMIS)
The death of 22 northern Sudanese soldiers escorted by UN peacekeepers
in an ambush by southern troops on 19 May, pushed the Sudan Armed
Forces to take the control of Abyei two days later. Southern Sudanese
officials in the area said some 100 people dead since the capture of
the area.
Reports from the area cited looting of Abyei’s shops and civilians
properties and belongings as the latter fled the area after its
seizure by the northern Sudanese forces. Pictures aslo showed the
ransacking of UN WFP stocks as the peacekeepers patrols pass near the
looters.
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) said yesterday it
is dispatching a military adviser to Abyei region to assess the
performance of the peacekeepers deployed in the region.
DPKO top military adviser General Babacar Gaye, from Senegal, is
heading to Abyei to "determine the circumstances surrounding recent
events," spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux told AP on Saturday.
A UN diplomat said the Zambian forces "locked themselves up for a
couple of days." He further added "They were then instructed to come
out of their barracks and start patrolling, but they had already lost
a crucial 48 hours."
In May 2008 during bloody clashes between the northern and southern
troops in Abyei, UN diplomats also highlighted the poor performance of
the Zambian peacekeepers.
The UN Security Council During the last week of June 2008 demanded to
the Secretary General Ban-Ki-moon to investigate the inaction of the
peacekeepers at the time.
The former head of UN mission in Sudan Ashraf Qazi, at the time said
the UNMIS has "neither the capacity nor the mandate to militarily
intervene or to provide law enforcement functions." Law enforcement is
the government’s responsibility, he added.
UNMIS current chief, Haile Menkerios, recently told the Security
Council that he was not satisfied with the performance of the Zambians
in the disputed area.
Menkerios nonetheless underlined that peacekeepers on the ground are
under-equipped, underfunded and undertrained.
"It was a wake-up call to the council that we need to get better
troops," a diplomat told Reuters.
(ST)
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