Peacekeepers Sudan kill each other, 4 Ethiopians dead

An Ethiopian peace-keeper in the western region of Sudan, Darfur, has killed three of his Ethiopian colleagues and wounded one. Immediately after shooting his colleagues Thursday 20 December he killed himself. This has been confirmed to Radio Dabanga by several sources, including eyewitnesses and the local authorities. The UN-peacekeeping mission for Darfur, UNAMID, could not confirm the incident that took place in its base in Mukjar, Central Darfur. The commissioner of Mukjar, Hashim Musa Abkar Hassan told Radio Dabanga that the killing took place in the recreation room of the mission’s base. He told Radio Dabanga that the local police commander visited the mission’s regional headquarters and met with the UNAMID commander in order to investigate the incident. The commissioner said to Radio Dabanga that the UNAMID commander had confirmed to him that a peacekeeper had killed three of his colleagues and then shot himself.

Witnesses have reported to Radio Dabanga that an argument between the peacekeepers escalated and one of the men left the room and returned with his gun. Upon his return, he opened fire on the four men sitting at the table after which he shot himself. Workers rushed to the room when they heard gunshots and found five men drenched in their own blood, witnesses added. Four of the peacekeepers had died in the meantime, while the fifth was severely injured. According to the witnesses the gun was found in the hands of one of the fatal victims.

According to sources, UNAMID provided a plane on the same day to evacuate the corpses as well as to the take the injured victim to Nyala for treatment. For his part, the commissioner of Mukjar, confirmed the killing of four peacekeepers and the injuring of one.

‘Not competent’

The commissioner commented further that “these troops came to protect the civilians and instead fight each other; this clearly demonstrates that they are not competent”. The incident has raised responses from residents and displaced persons from the locality’s camps. A resident from Mukjar expressed his regret and said: “If the people who are supposed to protect us are playing chess and killing each other, then who is left to protect us?”