UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Tuesday condemned the weekend attack that killed 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region and warned that any attempt to undermine the peace process is "unacceptable."
After two days of debate, Ghana's UN Ambassador to the UN Leslie Christian, the council chair this month, read out a statement condemning an attack "reportedly committed by a rebel group" and demanded that "no effort be spared so that the perpetrators be identified and brought to justice."
The 15-member council deplored the fact that the attack took place soon before a new round of Darfur peace talks scheduled for October 27 in Libya and warned that "any attempt to undermine the peace process is unacceptable," the statement by the 15-member council added.
The council met in emergency session Monday to discuss the case but could not agree on a formal statement of condemnation as some members sought clarification about exactly who was responsible for Saturday's bloody attack.
The AU on Monday began probing the raid by a large group of heavily armed fighters who overran the Haskanita camp in south Darfur in around 30 vehicles in the worst assault on the undermanned African force since it deployed in July 2004.
Two Sudanese rebel groups are suspected of being behind the attack, a source close to the investigation in Sudan said Tuesday.
"It could be a combined attack by the Sudan Liberation Movement SLM-Unity of Abdhallah Yahia and another group which recently split from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)," the source said on condition of anonymity.
The source declined to say what the suspicions were based on.
Sudan's UN ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamad welcomed the council's condemnation and said there was no doubt that a breakaway rebel group was involved.
"You have to isolate those groups and give them a lesson," he said. "The international community cannot condone any spoiling of the peace process."
But Noureddine Mezni, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) spokesman in Khartoum, said it was too early to positively identify those responsible for the attack.
"If the goal of the perpetrators is to prove their existence and to secure a place at the negotiating table in Tripoli, they will not be allowed to do so," Mezni told AFP.
The Tripoli meeting aims to broaden the Darfur peace agreement (DPA) signed in May 2006 between Khartoum and the main Darfur rebel movement to include those groups which did not sign.
The under-equipped AU force of around 7,000 troops from 26 countries patrolling Darfur, a region the size of France, is due to begin being replaced later this year by a 26,000-strong joint AU-UN force.
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