New Small Arms Survey report says United Nations or UN peacekeepers in Darfur, Sudan and South Sudan were attacked more than 100 times since 2005 up to 2014 suffering losses of hundreds of weapons and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition.
The report indicates between 2005 and 2014 there have been at least 20 notable incidents in which at least 500 rounds of ammunition destined for peacekeepers in Sudan and South Sudan have been diverted.
It says the UN peacekeepers’ losses of weapons include ammunition for pistols, assault rifles, and machine guns.
The new report adds that peacekeepers have also lost sizable numbers of grenades, rockets, and mortars.
The report draws on an original dataset from a variety of open sources including UN and AU reports, media articles, academic papers and more than 100 key informant interviews.
Study co-author and Small Arms Survey Managing Director Eric Berman observes ‘The loss of arms and ammunition in peace operations cannot be completely prevented given the challenging environments in which peacekeepers are deployed’.