UN peacekeeper killed in Darfur

KHARTOUM – Sudan on Friday rejected and contrasted allegations accusing the country of delaying medical evacuation of UN peacekeepers in the contested region of Abyei, stoking tension with the world body as France and the U.S. expressed alarm over the incident.

Three wounded Ethiopian peacekeepers serving with the UN Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA) died on Thursday after Sudanese authorities refused to clear a UN helicopter for departure to evacuate them. The three blue helmets sustained their injuries when their patrol vehicle hit a landmine in the troubled region. Another peacekeeper died instantly.

Alain Le Roy, the outgoing UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said that the Sudanese authorities delayed by three hours the take off of a UN Helicopter from the Kadugli, the state capital of the neighboring region of South Kordofan, to collect the wounded peacekeepers who, according to the UN official, died awaiting medical treatment.

The peacekeeper injured Friday, also from Sierra Leone, was transferred to a hospital where he underwent surgery, the U.N.-AU force known as UNAMID said in a statement.

"The attack on our peacekeepers is deplorable and our hearts go out to the families and friends of the deceased," said UNAMID deputy representative Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane. "UNAMID is doing all it can to render treatment to the injured, and, with the Sudanese police, to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice,"

The U.N. Security Council in late June authorized a 4,200-strong Ethiopian peacekeeping force to deploy for six months in the contested region of Abyei, which lies between Sudan and the new nation of South Sudan. The U.N. troops are to support an agreement between the two governments that calls for demilitarizing the contested border region near major oil fields that both the north and south claim.

The Ethiopian troops began deploying last month and Le Roy, said about 1,200 are on the ground.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed alarm Friday at reports that the Sudanese government denied flight clearance for the medical evacuation of the Ethiopians, saying "three wounded soldiers died during this unnecessary delay."

"The United States ... strongly condemns the government of Sudan's non-compliance with its obligation and its obstruction of the work of the United Nations," she said in a statement.

"This tragic incident also underscores the importance of establishing peace and security in Abyei, and between Sudan and South Sudan.