Azouz Ennifar, a Tunisian diplomat who until recently was head of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, has been appointed as Deputy Joint UN-African Union (AU) mediator for Darfur by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a bid to shore up peace prospects in the western Sudanese province. There were three separate attacks on personnel belonging to the UN-African mission in Darfur (UNAMID) this past weekend. On Sunday, a helicopter belonging to UNAMID was fired at in North Darfur but managed to land safely with 12 passengers and four crew aboard. UNAMID says it was the third time a helicopter has been fired at since the joint force deployed in late 2007. The helicopter was on its way to El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state, where government forces and rebels have been engaged in a fierce battle since Friday. Also on Sunday, in west Darfur, two UNAMID staff were shot at in separate incidents while driving near UNAMID's Sector West Headquarters. UNAMID said it suspects members of the Janjaweed militia were behind the attacks. The UN has authorized a force of about 27,000 for UNAMID, but so far, less than 10,000 troops have been deployed, according to information from UNAMID. It is the largest ever UN peacekeeping operation and the first between the UN and AU.
