There is no situation anywhere on the planet so bad that the UN cannot make it worse.
KHARTOUM, Dec 27 (Reuters) – Sudan agreed on Wednesday to allow a small number of U.N. troops to support a struggling African Union force in Darfur, with 105 soldiers and police due there by the end of January, an AU-U.N. statement said. But it was still unclear if Khartoum had agreed to a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force in the violent region of western Sudan, where 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million driven from their homes in the last four years. “It was agreed that U.N. military and police officers will wear their national uniforms with a blue U.N. beret. In addition, they will wear an AU armband,” the joint U.N.-AU statement said.
Sure, it’s only 105 soldiers at the moment, but Khartoum doesn’t want the competition:
But Khartoum has rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution to deploy a 22,500-strong U.N. peacekeeping force to replace the AU contingent. A compromise position on a joint AU-U.N. force was adopted by the world body, but in public Khartoum has so far rejected this too.
Mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms in Darfur in early 2003, accusing central government of marginalising the remote region on the border with Chad. To quell the revolt, Khartoum armed militia, who now stand accused of a campaign of rape, murder and pillage that Washington calls genocide.
Khartoum denies genocide, but the International Criminal Court is investigating alleged war crimes in the region.
I keep looking for an organization to link to for donations, petitions, etc. for Darfur that is not run by anti-American, anti-Israel organizations, but no luck so far. If anyone is aware of such a thing, email me or put it in comments.
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