The joint U.N./African Union UNAMID peacekeeping force has been repeatedly caught in the crossfire during almost 10 years of fighting between government troops and insurgents in Sudan’s remote west.
Rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) said they detained the peacekeepers, most of them from Senegal, on Sunday night in Shagied Karo in north-western Darfur.
JEM earlier said there were 52 peacekeepers and accused members of the international force of travelling to the area to help Sudanese security to spy on rebel-held territory.
“All peacekeepers are free but we are holding three Sudanese accompanying them,” Gibreel Adam Bilal, a spokesman for the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), later told Reuters, without going into further detail. He accused the three of working for security.
UNAMID spokeswoman Susan Manuel said the peacekeepers had been allowed to go, but were staying in the area to try and help the three civilian staff.
She denied the three were working for Sudanese security. “They are UNAMID staff,” she said.
Mainly non-Arab rebels took up arms in 2003, complaining the central government had left the region economically and politically marginalised. Khartoum mobilised troops and mostly-Arab militias to quell the unrest.