OREANDA-NEWS. October 1, 2008. The MI-8 helicopter (as reported earlier) crashed on September 29 in the south of Sudan’s rebellious province of Darfur. It was carrying food supplies to the UN-African Union peacekeeping force deployed in that area. To our deep sorrow, its Russian crew of three died in the crash.

The helicopter was shot down by gunmen of an armed Darfur group, firing from a camp for displaced people that is near the town of Nyala and is used as a shelter for rebels.

The incident continues to be investigated by Sudanese competent services as well as by UNAMID. We hope that this will help to identify and bring to justice those guilty of this bandit attack entailing the death of the Russian citizens who were carrying out a humane civilian mission.

Moscow strongly condemns this unprecedented terrorist attack ranking with other criminal actions of rebels, as a result of which civilians and peacekeepers die and humanitarian convoys are destroyed. Yet the bellicose Darfur opposition does not heed any persuasion to sit down at the negotiating table with the government of Sudan in order to find a peaceful solution to the Darfur conflict.

We presume that the United Nations will give a proper assessment of what happened and take necessary measures to prevent relapses of this kind of intolerable terrorist attacks on the basis of the precise implementation of the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, which, in particular, impose a strict ban on arms supplies to rebel groups. The ultimate aim in this case was and remains achieving a lasting political settlement in Darfur with respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Sudan.