SUDAN:Hundreds of rebels overran an African Union camp in Darfur, killing at least 10 soldiers and leaving 50 unaccounted for, in the deadliest assault since the peacekeeping mission began three years ago.
The attack in Haskanita, near the border of north and south Darfur, destroyed the base. Seven peacekeepers were injured.
"There is a great feeling of shock here," said Noureddine Mezni, a spokesman for the AU mission in Sudan, in a telephone interview from Khartoum. "These were people helping the local population." He said several AU teams were trying to find the 50 missing peacekeepers. "We cannot track them now . . . maybe we will find them later," he said.
The attack drew immediate international condemnation, with the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner calling it "a murderous and unacceptable act".
Haskanita has seen heavy recent fighting between government forces and rebel militias from the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Army Unity faction, which have accused Khartoum of trying to grab land ahead of scheduled peace talks in Libya this month, and before the deployment of a new, vastly beefed-up peacekeeping mission.
The motive for Saturday night's attack remains unclear. But the rebels have made no secret of their contempt for the 7,000 AU troops based in the region, accusing them of failing to protect civilians.
Officially, the African Union has described the attackers, who arrived at the peacekeepers' base in about 30 vehicles, as "armed men".
But the leader of a new "hybrid" AU-UN mission to Darfur blamed the rebels.
"Rebel groups, who indulge in such random violence and bloodshed, undermine their credibility on any negotiation table," said Gen Martin Luther Agwai, who will lead the 26,000-strong force that is due to replace the AU mission before the end of the year.
A spokesman for the rebel JEM denied its troops were involved. An SLA Unity commander told Reuters that the AU base might have got caught up in fierce fighting between the government and rebels which had broken out in Haskanita earlier in the day.
With all sides ignoring numerous ceasefire agreements, the peacekeepers' role has largely been reduced to that of bystanders, often confined to their bases.
Since January, at least 118 aid vehicles have been hijacked and insecurity has worsened across the Darfur region.
Jan Egeland, the former UN relief coordinator, said earlier this month that the AU-UN force must be prepared to fight the various militias if it is to be effective.
"It is the safe areas of Bosnia all over again," he said. "We give people food and blankets but then say they can be massacred at night." - ( Guardian service )