KHARTOUM (AFP) — Gunmen killed a South African peacekeeper with the UN-led mission in Sudan's Darfur region and seriously wounded a female soldier in the second deadly ambush against the under-equipped force in weeks.
Wednesday's shooting brings to 11 the number of peacekeepers for the African Union-United Nations (UNAMID) force to have died since the mission launched operations on December 31, spokesman Noureddine Mezni said.
Attackers opened fire on the two South African soldiers about a kilometre (half a mile) from a military base for the mission in northern Darfur.
A male peacekeeper died and the woman, who was shot in the chest, was evacuated for medical treatment in El Fasher, UNAMID headquarters and the state capital of North Darfur, officials said.
"Unknown armed men opened fire yesterday afternoon at a water point near UNAMID camp in Kutum. They were evacuated to our base in Kutum. The man died and the female soldier is still alive," Mezni told AFP.
UN officials said reports varied on the number of attackers, with some describing them as a "group of men" and others "two men".
"The attackers fled. The wounded soldier is in a stable condition and we're trying to find out who did this and why. Apparently nothing was taken. The details were still very foggy," said public information director Kemal Saiki.
Previously, a Nigerian sergeant was killed on October 7, when up to 60 gunmen ambushed a patrol in South Darfur.
The United Nations assumed command of peacekeeping in west Sudan's Darfur -- roughly the same size of Turkmenistan -- after the even smaller African Union mission also failed to provide basic security in the lawless region.
UNAMID commander, General Martin Agwai, told AFP and the BBC in a recent interview that mistakes by the international community have prolonged the conflict and that there was no immediate prospect for peace.
The first days of the conflict, which erupted in February 2003 when ethnic rebels rose up against the Arab-led regime fighting for wealth, power and resources, has degenerated into a vastly more complex web of violence.
Agwai said there were more than two dozen rebel movements and that the conflict was no longer simply "African against Arab" but complicated by infighting between Africans, Arabs and rival signatories of past peace accords.
Remote areas around Kutum, where the attack happened, were hit by a surge of recent fighting between rebels, government and Arab militia that displaced around 24,000 civilians in September alone, according to a UN official.
UNAMID, which had a budget of 1.2 billion dollars for 2008, is supposed to grow into the largest UN peacekeeping force in the world at an estimated strength of 26,000.
So far only 9,078 soldiers and 2,282 police have deployed, Mezni said. The mission still needs 24 helicopters to patrol the vast region.
UN officials say up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.
Seven peacekeepers died and 22 were wounded on July 8, the deadliest single ambush against UNAMID.
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