The killing of five African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur—the deadliest single attack against the force since late 2004—is being widely condemned and has led to calls in the United Nations for deployment of a hybrid UN-AU force to the war-torn region. The Italian news agency AKI reports the Senegalese soldiers with the AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) were shot April 1 by "unidentified men" in an unprovoked attack in Um Baru, about 220 kilometers from the North Darfur provincial capital of El Fasher. On March 31, armed men also fired at an AMIS helicopter as it was carrying staff from Zalingei in West Darfur to El Fasher. The Angola Press reports April 5 that the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) took responsibility for the attacks through its Army Public Relations Division (DIRPA).

See our last post on Sudan and the crisis in the Sahel.