Russia has urged South Sudan to thoroughly investigate the downing of a UN-hired Russian helicopter in a Friday incident which claimed the lives of all four Russian airmen on board.
In a statement issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry Saturday, Moscow also said that host countries must ensure watertight security around UN missions on their territories.
The Sudanese army says the helicopter was fired on by mistake.
Russia wants S.Sudan to punish those who downed UN helicopterRussia on Saturday called on South Sudan to punish those responsible for shooting down a United Nations helicopter, killing its four Russian crew, and take steps to ensure such incidents do not happen again.
A Russian Foreign Ministry statement named the victims and said the "tragic occurrence" in the African nation on Friday underscored the need to provide security for U.N. peacekeeping missions.
IAC confirms Mi-8 chopper crew in South SudanThe Interstate Aviation Committee has confirmed the death of a Mi-8 Russian helicopter crew in South Sudan.
According to a Committee official, the helicopter was performing a flight as part of the UN peacekeeping mission when it was shot down and found burnt on Friday.
Radio contact with the Mi-8 was lost shortly after it took off, so two other helicopters left to search for it and eventually found the wreckage.
Four Russian pilots and a UN mission official had been on board the brought-down chopper. What country the official may have come from remains undisclosed.
Personal data of dead Russian pilots sent to Aviation CommitteeThe personal data of the Russian pilots who have died in a helicopter crash in South Sudan have been sent to the Interstate Aviation Committee, according to the Nizhnevartovskavia air-carrier. The airlines’ helicopter Mi-8 was mistakenly shot down Friday by the South Sudan military who thought it was carrying weapons for the local rebels.
Five people died in the crash, including four Russians. The armed forces of South Sudan have admitted their guilt and offered condolences to the bereaved families.
The UN Security Council has demanded that the government of South Sudan investigate the incident and punish those guilty. A statement to that end was earlier made by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
UNSC demands punishment for shooting down Russian chopperThe UN Security Council has demanded punishment for those guilty of shooting down a Russian helicopter in South Sudan. Earlier, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a statement to that effect.
The military brought down the Mi-8 helicopter on Friday on the wrong assumption that it was carrying weapons for the rebels. Five people died in the crash, including four Russians.
The UN was prompt to accuse the South Sudanese Army, but Army spokesmen first rejected the accusations, claiming that the rebels were to blame. But the armed forces of South Sudan later admitted their guilt.
Army spokesman Phillip Aguer said South Sudan deplores the incident and offers condolences to the families of those who had died. According to him, the military made a mistake since the UN had failed to inform it that the helicopter would fly across that particular area.
S.Sudan apologizes for helicopter deathsThe South Sudanese military has apologized for Friday’s downing of a UN-chartered Russian helicopter which killed all four Russian crewmembers on board and extended its heartfelt condolences to the victims’ families, an army spokesman said on Friday.
He said the Mi-8 aircraft was shot down by mistake because the military had not been duly informed by the UN that the helicopter would fly in that particular area and thought it was carrying arms for antigovernment rebels.
The UN Security Council earlier condemned the destruction of the Russian helicopter and demanded punishment for those guilty. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement that the helicopter carried clear identification marks of the United Nations Organization.
Chopper downed "by mistake"The UN-chartered Russian helicopter in South Sudan was downed by mistake, local army representatives admitted on Friday. According to preliminary reports four Russian nationals on board the Mi-8 chopper died in the crash.
“The artillery unfortunately shot down the aircraft mistaking it for an enemy one, because we had not been duly informed by the UN that the helicopter would fly in that particular area,” South Sudan’s army spokesman said late in the day.
The military earlier said the aircraft had been downed by rebels active in the country’s Jonglei province.
UN chopper downed in South Sudan, 4 Russians deadA United Nations helicopter was downed in South Sudan on Friday, killing all four Russian crew members on board, a source at the Russian embassy in Khartoum told RIA Novosti.
The UN said in a statement that the helicopter was shot down while on a reconnaissance flight in the eastern state of Jonglei, citing "initial reports" that the aircraft had “crashed and burned.”
The UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was established in July 2011 when South Sudan gained its independence, becoming the newest country in the world, because the UN Security Council concluded that the situation there could pose risks to international security.
South Sudan’s army has been fighting rebel forces in Jonglei, including in the region where the helicopter was downed, since early December.
The UN said in a statement that UNMISS had been informed by South Sudan’s armed forces, known as the SPLA, that they had shot at a helicopter near the settlement of Likuangole, around the area where the UN chopper was downed. However, Reuters cited SPLA spokesman Kella Kueth as saying, "The SPLA did not shoot down the helicopter. Rebels of [David] Yau Yau shot it down."
According to a Russian defense source, the Russian-built Mi-8 helicopter belonged to a Russian company, Nizhnevartovskavia. The embassy source said it had been chartered by the UN for UNMISS.
Peacekeeping helicopter shot down in S.Sudan - UNA UN peacekeeping helicopter on a reconnaissance mission in South Sudan's Jonglei state was shot down on Friday by the South Sudanese army, killing all four crew members, the world body said.
The UN mission in South Sudan, known as UNMISS, was created after South Sudan seceded from Sudan in July 2011, six months after a referendum agreed to under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war that killed some 2 million people.
Voice of Russia, RIA, TASS, Reuters, mid.ru
