Head of UN-African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur visits site of clashes

The Force Commander of the United Nations-African Union (AU) peacekeeping mission in Sudan’s war-ravaged Darfur region today visited the scene of recent deadly clashes between Government forces and a rebel militia group.

The fighting with armed elements of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) late last month in the North Darfur town of Umm Baru claimed more than 50 lives and forced hundreds to flee their homes.

General Martin Luther Agwai, Force Commander of the joint UN-AU mission in Darfur (UNAMID), met with military and police personnel under his command deployed in the for a briefing on the general security situation following the hostilities.

He also held discussions with civilians who moved to the vicinity of the UNAMID camp site near Umm Barru as a result of the clashes in the far west of North Darfur state about 100 kilometres from the border with Chad.

UNAMID was established by the Security Council in 2007 to protect civilians in Darfur, where an estimated 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.7 million forced from their homes since violence erupted in 2003, pitting rebels against Government forces and their allied Janjaweed militiamen.