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News – Africa: Morale of the SA peacekeepers is low

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2008-10-31 Time: 13:00:07  Posted By: Jan

Corporal BB Titus, a member of the South African contingent of the Darfur peacekeeping force, was guarding a well with eight others when an attack came out of the blue. There was no skirmish, no military engagement, just a few gunshots by possibly no more than two assailants.

A female SA soldier was wounded, and was in a stable condition at a military hospital in El Fasher, said Noureddine Mezni, spokesperson of the Unamid peacekeeping force. The soldiers returned fire, and the attackers fled. By then Titus had been mortally wounded.

The attack happened about 500m from the Unamid base camp at Kutum in North Darfur. Military sources in Khartoum were adamant that it was an “isolated incident”, and not part of a wider military offensive.

Sources in Darfur involved in United Nations projects said on Thursday the morale of the SA peacekeepers was quite low. Unamid is supposed to have a staff of 26 000, but so far only 11 000 have been deployed.

“Everybody expected Unamid (the hybrid African Union-UN force) would be different to Amis (the former AU force), but the problems have remained the same. South African soldiers didn’t think they were doing any good. They believe the force’s mandate is too weak.”

The Sudanese government has been accused of being the main obstacle to the force’s deployment. It has vetoed the composition of troop consignments from various countries countless times and slapped draconian conditions on their movements.

And pledges of equipment, especially two dozen helicopters, have not been fulfilled by donor countries either. Unamid has a budget of $1,2-billion (about R12-billion).

Western members of the UN Security Council have made progress in deploying the force. One of their key demands is to suspend a possible arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

Many humanitarian and other workers believe the warrant was a mistake, as it has only spurred Bashir into greater obstinacy.

Mezni said the female soldier was shot in the chest but was in a stable condition. She was being treated at the Unamid clinic in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, he added.

Recently, a Nigerian sergeant was shot dead after up to 60 armed bandits ambushed his convoy. In early July, seven members of the force were killed and another 22 wounded in an ambush.

    • Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20081031055201322C640894