Sudan / Darfur / African Union

Armed Men Ambush Darfur Peacekeepers, Two Killed
Reuters dispatch in The West Australian, May 8, 2010
"Armed men ambushed U.N.-African Union peacekeepers in Darfur Friday, killing two soldiers and seriously injuring three in Sudan's troubled west, the latest in a wave of attacks on the under-equipped force. Separately Darfur's main rebel group said Friday it had clashed twice with government troops in the past three days, warning more attacks would mean 'all-out war' and the collapse of a fragile peace process. President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes in Darfur, where mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in early 2003 accusing Khartoum of marginalising the remote arid region and sparking one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. 'The attackers fled when the convoy returned fire. The attack left two peacekeepers killed in action and three seriously wounded,' the peacekeeping mission known as UNAMID said in a statement. The peacekeepers were Egyptian, UNAMID said, urging the government to bring the unknown attackers to justice. Some 24 UNAMID soldiers have been killed since the mission was established in January 2008.
In the latest in an escalation of violence in Darfur since April elections, the rebel Justice and Equality Movement said 9t had clashed on May 4 with Sudan's army 18 km (11 miles) south of Darfur's capital el-Fasher and again in West Darfur on May 6. ... A shaky peace process is due to restart after a pause for April's election, which won a strong victory for Bashir's ruling party in the north. Rebels and the army have in the past jockeyed for positions ahead of negotiations. [...]"