Three blue helmets die in Abyei after Sudan denied medical evacuation
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August 4, 2011 (KHARTOUM) – A three-hour delay by Sudanese authorities
of the medical evacuation of three wounded Ethiopian peacekeepers in
the country’s hotly contested region of Abyei may have led to their
death, according to the United Nations.
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UN Peacekeepers on Patrol in Abyei (UN Photo/Stuart Price)
The three peacekeepers, who were serving with newly established UN
Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA), sustained injuries along
with seven of their peers when their patrol vehicle hit a landmine on
Thursday. The incident caused the immediate death of one peacekeeper.
Alain Le Roy, the outgoing UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping
Operations, said the other three peacekeepers succumbed to their
wounds awaiting medical evacuation.
“We didn’t get the clearance for the Medevac helicopter to take off
immediately,” the UN official told reporters at UN Headquarters,
adding that Sudanese authorities had threatened to shoot the aircraft
down if it took off without clearance.
Le Roy said that a board of inquiry is investigating the matter and
that his boss UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had already raised the
issue with Sudanese authorities.
According to Le Roy, under the status of forces agreement made between
the UN and the government of Sudan states, medical evacuation flights
do not require prior authorisation.
However, Le Roy said it was difficult to establish whether the lives
of the three peacekeepers could have been saved if the helicopter had
been allowed to take off immediately.
The incident comes at a tense point in the relationship between the
world body and Sudan after the latter accused the UN Security Council
of attempting to “manipulate” the mandate of the joint UN-AU
Peacekeeping Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).
Sudan, which recently decided not to renew mandate of the UN Mission
in Sudan (UNMIS) after the South’s secession last month, also warned
against the appointment of any former UNMIS employee in UNISFA.
UNISFA, established with a mandated strength of 4,200 Ethiopian
peacekeepers to monitor the security situation in Abyei, has already
deployed 1,500 troops. The mission was agreed between Sudan and South
Sudan as part of security and political arrangements to defuse tension
in the area following its seizure by Sudan’s army in May.
A referendum was supposed to decide the dispute in January but Sudan
and South Sudan could not agree on who was allowed to vote.
(ST)
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