Darfur gunmen attack senior African Union peacekeeping officer

A SENIOR officer with the African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur in western Sudan was attacked yesterday by gunmen who seriously wounded his driver, the force said in a statement.

“Four unidentified armed men attacked the car of the Ghanaian colonel in El-Fasher in north Darfur, wounding his driver and seizing the vehicle,” said the spokesman for the 7,000-strong African Union force known as AMIS.

The Khartoum government has agreed in principle to a 26,000-strong force of UN and AU troops for Darfur, made up mainly of African soldiers and known as UNAMID, to replace the AU soldiers who have been unable to put an end to the bloodshed in Darfur. Joint UN-AU envoy Rodolphe Adada on Sunday met Yussef Kibr, the governor of north Darfur to raise the question of security for the UNAMID mission.