Russian pilot missing in Darfur copter incident, but aircraft and other crew are safe

Russian pilot missing in Darfur copter incident

UNITED NATIONS — A Russian-owned helicopter that landed in the wrong place in Darfur has been recovered with all the passengers and crew except the Russian pilot, the top international envoy in the volatile Sudanese region said Tuesday.

Ibrahim Gambari, the joint representative of the United Nations and African Union, said peacekeepers from the U.N.-AU force in Darfur are working with the Sudanese government and rebel movements to locate the missing pilot and “see to his release.”

The helicopter, which was assigned to the U.N.-AU force, disappeared Monday while transporting three members of the rebel Liberation Justice Movement from peace negotiations with the government in Doha, Qatar, to locations in South Darfur, Gambari said. He spoke with reporters after briefing the U.N. Security Council in New York.

Early Tuesday, Gambari said, the peacekeeping force, known as UNAMID, made contact with three of the four crew on the helicopter and an international staff member.

They reported that they were at a Sudanese government location south of Menawashi in South Darfur, he said.

Gambari said a UNAMID helicopter went to the site with another pilot who flew the helicopter, the crew and passengers to safety.

“Apparently, they landed in what was the wrong place, and it seems that it was a place not fully in control of the government,” he said.

“The good news is the government took it very seriously and worked with us and we retrieved the helicopter and everybody except the captain,” Gambari said.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement earlier Tuesday that four Russians and five Sudanese nationals were aboard the helicopter, which it said had been seized Monday by rebels. It said the men were not hurt.

Gambari told the Security Council on Tuesday that there has been “a spike in criminal acts and attacks against U.N. and humanitarian personnel” in Darfur.

In 2009, he said, UNAMID peacekeepers were attacked on 28 occasions resulting in 10 deaths and 26 injuries, and two UNAMID personnel and six humanitarian workers were kidnapped.

The Darfur conflict began in February 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government in Khartoum, claiming discrimination and neglect. Khartoum is accused of retaliating by arming local nomadic Arab tribes and unleashing militias known as the janjaweed on civilian populations — a charge the government denies.

U.N. officials say at least 300,000 people have lost their lives from violence, disease and displacement and that 2.7 million have been driven from their homes.