UNAMID Soldiers Mourn the Death of Fellow Peacekeepers (REUTERS/Stuart Price/2008)

The last six months have been both difficult and deadly for UNAMID. On Friday, the targeted slaying of two peacekeepers served as a troubling reminder of that fact.

Although the operation has made significant progress toward full deployment, and it has finally received six of its desperately needed tactical helicopters, the mission’s peacekeepers remain under direct threat from Darfur’s rampant lawlessness and insecurity. Numerous incidents consistently underscore the reality that greater troop numbers, more materiel, and sporadic donations of force multipliers are not the only elements necessary for a robust and effective operation capable of implementing its mandate to protect civilians and humanitarian aid efforts.

As we wrote late last year, the UN-AU hybrid mission in Darfur has been called many things, from being described as a pawn or a proxy to being dismissed as incompetent or irrelevant. But the truth is almost ignored: these peacekeepers are quite literally the only force standing between a vulnerable, victimized population and criminally rampant insecurity. In December, five Rwandans gave up their lives as part of that important effort. Last week, two Egyptian soldiers were killed as they served to bring peace to Darfur. Three others were seriously wounded.

The peacekeepers were travelling near Katila on Friday when they were ambushed by unidentified gunmen not far from Edd al-Fursan in South Darfur. The assailants launched their attack without warning, indiscriminately shooting at the Egyptian convoy. They fled after the contingent returned fire.

AU and UN officials have expressed outrage at Friday’s attack, from describing it as “cowardly” to denouncing it as a “war crime.” In a statement, UNAMID confirmed its “undaunted and unwavering” commitment to its mission, while calling on the Government of Sudan (GoS) to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

This incident comes not long after the results were announced in Sudan’s historic nationwide elections. Last month, shortly after the polls opened, four South African peacekeepers were kidnapped in an apparent attempt by their abductors—newly formed militia —to demonstrate that the necessary security conditions for elections to take place in Darfur did not exist. Just before the voting took place, the European Union withdrew its observer team over staff safety concerns.

But banditry and kidnapping are not the only threats facing both the local population and the force tasked with its protection. Fighting between the GoS and rebel group Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) has been confirmed in Jebel Moon, near the Chadian border, amid a faltering ceasefire between the two sides. In the central region of Jebel Marra, regular clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan Liberation Army – Abdel Wahid faction (SLA-AW) have killed an estimated 400 civilians and displaced tens of thousands more. Obstructionism by all parties involved – notably the Government of Sudan and the SLA-AW – has left the local population without access to military protection or humanitarian assistance. In March, a UNAMID convoy was attempting to verify the clashes and the civilian toll when its 60 peacekeepers were ambushed, detained overnight, and robbed of their vehicles and equipment. The Government of Sudan chastised the mission for failing to heed its advice by attempting to undertake their investigation.

In response to Friday’s attacks, the GoS appears to have acted quickly. Wire services are reporting that Sudanese police have arrested two suspected perpetrators and are looking for five others also believed to have taken part in the assault. It remains to be seen whether these men will be held to account in a transparent manner consistent with the rule of law.

If Sudan is committed – as it claims – to ensuring UNAMID’s success and protecting its citizens from criminal violence, these suspects should be interrogated and tried with full UN and AU involvement. When the Rwandan peacekeepers were killed last December, Khartoum announced the arrest of the six men responsible, but little information has been publicly available about the process by which they have been tried for these crimes. This is, after all, a government that – through embracing impunity – has historically not simply failed to deter, but has effectively provided incentives to opportunistic criminals and looters to rob well intentioned peacekeepers of their equipment and, more importantly, their lives.