UN investigates peacekeepers
2011-06-05 14:16
New York - The United Nations is investigating reports that UN peacekeepers stayed in their barracks during recent fighting between forces from northern and southern Sudan in the disputed border region of Abyei, a UN official said on Saturday.
The UN peacekeeping department sent its top military advisor, General Babacar Gaye, to Abyei "to determine the circumstances surrounding recent events," spokesperson Michel Bonnardeaux said.
The fighting and continued tensions over Abyei - a fertile land near major oil fields - have raised fears of renewed civil war only weeks before South Sudan secedes from the north on July 9.
The north's invasion of the Abyei region and takeover of the town of Abyei was precipitated by a May 19 attack on northern and UN troops by southern soldiers.
Several UN diplomats criticised the peacekeepers from Zambia for failing to carry out their mandate, which includes patrolling and protecting civilians in the oil-rich area. The diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Strongly condemned
A phone call to Zambia's UN Mission seeking comment was not answered.
Bonnardeaux said general Gaye would be reporting to senior UN peacekeeping officials about the performance of the peacekeepers in Abyei when he returns to New York in the coming days.
The UN Security Council on Friday strongly condemned the takeover of the Abyei area by forces from the Khartoum-based government in the north and the displacement of tens of thousands of Abyei residents who fled their homes.
It called on Sudanese forces to "ensure an immediate halt to all looting, burning, and illegal resettlement" in Abyei and asked both the north and the south to withdraw their troops from the area.
A confidential UN human rights report obtained by AP on Friday warned that the Sudanese army's invasion of Abyei could lead to ethnic cleansing if the tens of thousands of residents who fled are not able to return.
More than 30 000 Ngok Dinkas, a black tribe that associates itself with Sudan's south, fled Abyei when northern troops and ethnic Misseriya -Arab cattle herders aligned with the north - moved in and looted homes. The UN report estimated that between 15% and 20% of the homes in Abyei were burned in what it called "deliberate destruction" and a violation of international humanitarian law.
- SAPA
