AU Peacekeepers Killed in Sudan

The African Union accused a former rebel group in Sudan’s Darfur region of killing two African peacekeepers.

The AU said in a statement that Sudan Liberation Movement soldiers killed two peacekeepers in Graida and critically injured a third soldier, the Sudan Tribune reported Wednesday. The Sudan Liberation Movement signed a peace agreement with the Sudanese government in May 2006.

This deplorable and condemnable act was perpetrated by gunmen believed to be elements belonging to SLM/A, which is in full control of Graida. The African Union mission in Sudan announced.

Monique Mukaruliza, the acting special representative of the chairperson of the AU Commission, said she condemns these heinous and cowardly acts.

A source within the AU said the slain soldiers were Nigerian.

The killings bring the total of AU military personnel killed on duty in Sudan to 11 since the start of the mission in 2004.