Several hurt during UN chopper emergency landing in Sudan’s Darfur

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Several people were injured Sunday, August 16, when a helicopter from the UN-AN peacekeeping mission in Darfur made an emergency landing near an airfield in the western Sudanese region, the mission said.

“A UNAMID helicopter underwent an emergency landing at Saraf Omra in North Darfur and a number of passengers have been injured but no deaths have been reported,” a statement said.

Passengers on board the aircraft included both Sudanese and foreign nationals travelling from the North Darfur state capital El Fasher, UNAMID said, without giving an exact number of those injured.

UNAMID said it did not know what had caused the emergency landing, which took place at 12:30 pm (0930 GMT) but that it was investigating the incident.

The joint mission first deployed to war-torn Darfur in 2007, 4 years after mostly African insurgents rebelled against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, complaining of their marginalization.

UNAMID has more than 17,000 military and police peacekeepers deployed across Darfur.

More than 300,000 people have been killed and another 2.5 million displaced in Darfur since the conflict began, the United Nations says.

President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur. – Rappler.com