Secretary General condemns “horrific” attacks on UNIFSA base in Sudan
Drone attack in southern Sudanese city of Kadugli kills six Bengali UN peacekeepers.
United Nations
Sphinx News: Ahmed Ali
A drone attack in the southern Sudanese city of Kadugli, in the central region of Kordofan, has killed six UN peacekeepers. With another eight UN peacekeeping forces injured, Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres called the attacks “horrific,” assessing that the belligerence may constitute “war crimes.”
The attack, reported on Saturday, hit the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). The UNISFA mandate, just recently renewed last month for another year by the UNSC (United Nations Security Council), has been active since 2011. The mandate of the over 4,000-person peacekeeping force is to promote peace, reconciliation, and civilian security in a region that has been contested between both Sudan and South Sudan following the latter’s partition and international recognition in 2011.
Guterres has labeled the attacks a flagrant contravention of the UN Charter and its humanitarian principles. He described the attack as “unjustifiable,” while also urging an immediate investigation aimed at holding the perpetrators “accountable.”
Since the attacks, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have blamed the RSF (Rapid Support Force). While the latter have not yet publicly responded to such allegations, the SAF released a statement saying the attack “clearly reveals the subversive approach of the rebel militia and those behind it.”
Nonetheless, the investigation to reveal those responsible continues, with the UN putting out a statement earlier today saying, “The Acting Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Robert Yaw Affram, visited Kadugli today to assess the situation and to engage with the peacekeepers on the ground and other relevant parties.”
With the victims all Bengali nationals, Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, in a statement, said he was “deeply saddened” by the attack. As well as giving his deepest condolences, the Secretary-General called for a “comprehensive, inclusive and Sudanese-owned political process” to end the brutal civil war, which has already taken over 40,000 lives.
