BLANTYRE - A Malawian soldier, one of the three who went missing in Sudan’s Darfur region after a weekend attack on African Union peacekeepers by suspected rebels, is alive, the government said on Thursday.
"I am very happy to report that Captain (Fransisco) Medi is alive," Defence Minister Bob Khamisa told AFP.
He said Medi had "fled to another camp", 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, after their camp was attacked by the rebels. He refused to comment further on the attack.
Khamisa said Malawi, which deployed a battalion of 800 troops to Darfur in August, was "still analysing the situation", adding that it was too early to make a decision on whether to withdraw the troops.
The attack late on Saturday, which left 10 peacekeepers dead, was carried out by a group of heavily armed men in 30 vehicles on an AU military base at Haskanita in south Darfur.
It was the worst assault on the AU force since its deployment in 2004.
The under-equipped force of around 7,000 troops from 26 countries patrolling Darfur, a region the size of France, is due to begin being replaced later this year by a 26,000-strong joint
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