Darfur: joint UN-African Union mission reports calm although banditry persists

24 June - The joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) today reported that the security situation in the war-torn western Sudanese region was calm although banditry remains a problem.

UNAMID said the most recent incident involved a robbery yesterday of a house shared by mission staff in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, where thieves made off with electronics and cash, said UN spokesperson Michele Montas.

Ms. Montas added that other acts of banditry have been reported in and around makeshift camps sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs) 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.

In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned armed clashes which erupted in North Darfur in recent months, initiated by elements of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) against the Sudan Liberation Army/Minni Minawi (SLA/MM), a pro-Government faction, supported by the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Mr. Ban said a 24 May attack on the SAF Umm Baru camp left at least 53 people seriously injured, needing evacuation for medical treatment. In addition, around 350 civilians – mainly women, children and the elderly – as well as 100 unarmed Sudanese soldiers and members of the SLA/MM took refuge at the UN base near the scene of the violence.

UNAMID, currently at 68 per cent of full deployment with some 13,455 uniformed personnel, was established by the Security Council in 2007 to protect civilians in Darfur.