Huge attack on Darfur peacekeepers
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed outrage after rebels killed at least 10 African Union soldiers in an unprecented attack on a peacekeeping base in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur.
An African Union spokesman told CNN the casualties were the heaviest suffered by the peacekeeping force since its deployment in 2004.
Some 30 peacekeepers were still missing from Saturday's assault on the Haskanita base and a further 10 wounded, Assana Ba told CNN.
Looks like the peacekeeper base was wiped out by a huge attack force. The target was an African Union force not a UN one, so it was probably more lightly equipped.
Apparently the battle ran for several hours and the peacekeepers finally collapsed when they ran out of ammunition. The attackers where equiped with RPGs and armored vehicles. Initial claims put the attacking force at over 1000. That may be an exaggeration, but I'm sure the 150 or so AU soldiers where heavily outnumbered.
This is not a good sign for peace in the area, because peacekeeping forces tend to work only when they are doing that. They are not good at creating peace or stopping an ongoing conflict. They are good at keeping the peace once the sides have decided to stop.
Jay