April 15, 10

NEWS / Four missing AU-UN peacekeepers remain unaccounted for in Darfur

15 April 2010 – Four South African peacekeeping serving with the joint African Union-United Nations force in the volatile western Sudanese region of Darfur who went missing on Sunday remain unaccounted for, the mission said, adding that they could have been seized by kidnappers or carjackers.

“Despite an all-out effort on every front, the peacekeepers and their vehicle remain unaccounted for,” said Ibrahim Gambari, Joint Special Representative of the AU-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

“Our concern is that that we are now facing a carjacking and abduction situation,” he said in a statement released yesterday. “Notwithstanding recent media reports, we have not been contacted by any party nor have we received any claim or demand of any sort,” added Mr. Gambari, who has been in constant contact with Sudanese Government officials over the incident.

The unarmed police advisers’ last movement was reported at 16:00 local time on Sunday. The group, consisting of two women and two men, had just departed their team site outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, on a seven-kilometre journey back to their private quarters.

UNAMID has continued to mobilize all its resources in the region and is working in close cooperation with the Sudanese Government and local authorities in the search for the missing peacekeepers.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34375&Cr=darfur&Cr1=