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Senegal troops may quit Darfur
02/10/2007 08:40 - (SA)
Khartoum - Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade had said he would pull his country's troops out of Darfur if it was determined that African peacekeepers who were killed at the weekend were not equipped to defend themselves.
Twenty AU soldiers were killed or injured and 40 missing after a "deliberate and sustained" assault on the Haskanita base
in Darfur on Saturday night by armed men in 30 vehicles, who
looted and destroyed the base, the African Union said.
It was the worst single attack on AU forces since the
7 000-strong mission was deployed to western Sudan in 2004.
Wade told reporters in Dakar a Senegalese soldier was among
those killed.
"If they died because they didn't have the arms to defend
themselves, I will withdraw all the Senegalese ... I am not
going to send people to be slaughtered," he said, adding he had
ordered an investigation into the attack.
First attack on full base
The AU had long complained of a lack of equipment in Darfur,
including attack helicopters and rapid response vehicles. They
had also said their force was too small to contain the conflict in a vast and arid region the size of France.
Senegal had one of the largest contingents in Darfur and had
taken casualties in the past. Most of the infantry in Haskanita
came from Nigeria, but military observers were from various countries.
AU convoys and individuals had been ambushed before, and about 40 had died in the three years prior to the Haskanita attack.
This was the first time an entire base was targeted.
White House spokesperson Dana Perino said the violence
underscored the urgency of the AU-UN mission.
"Obviously what the president (George W Bush) wants is that UN peacekeeping force to get there as soon as possible because we are committed to ending the violence and providing assistance to the people who are suffering there in Darfur," she said.
Attack just before visit by the Elders
SLA Unity military chief Abu Bakr Kadu has denied his forces
had attacked the AU base, saying the African troops may have
been caught in the crossfire between fighting with the army.
The attack preceded a visit of "Elders" to Sudan, including
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, ex-US President Jimmy
Carter, veteran peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and women's and
children's rights advocate Graca Machel.
On Monday they met Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir,
but declined to discuss the 90-minute talks until the end of
their trip when they meet Bashir again.
- Reuters
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