Word: darfurs
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Anyone wondering whether the world's largest peacekeeping force will be enough to end the conflict in Darfur already have their answer - from the people who created it. The new force, a hybrid U.N.-African Union contingent, was approved by the U.N. Security Council Tuesday, and one of its key backers, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, told the Council that the plan was to "achieve a cease-fire, including an end to aerial bombings of civilians; drive forward peace talks and, as peace is established, offer to begin to invest in recovery and reconstruction." Simultaneously, however, officials accompanying him were...
...Critics will decry the fact that the U.N. has taken so long (four years and counting) to consider meaningful action, and even then to not do enough, but the British assessment reflects reality. The fighting in Darfur, which pitches Arab supremacist militias backed by the Sudanese army against Darfur rebels, has killed an estimated 200,000 people and left 2 million homeless. Against that, the U.N. has authorized a force of 26,000 peacekeepers whose mandate is limited to monitoring - but never seizing - arms, and which can only act defensively to protect civilians and the free movement of humanitarian workers...
...British and other Western powers are hanging their main hopes for ending the conflict on talks with Darfur's various rebel groups in Arusha, Tanzania, due to begin in the next few days. That appears a slim hope. For one thing, the rebels are a fractious bunch. On Monday, a new split was reported in the ranks of the hardline Islamic Justice and Equality Movement (J.E.M.) over who would represent them in Arusha. And even if they can agree a common platform, the Sudanese government still has to agree to meet them. Khartoum's preferred method of dealing with Darfuris...
...been decidedly noticed. The country's investments in Sudan, which increased in early July when China National Petroleum Corp. said it would spend an additional $25 million developing an offshore field there, have become a global flashpoint given the carnage the Khartoum government has allowed to continue in Darfur...
...audience things it didn't want to hear, and in each case she clearly had the general electorate in mind rather than the Democratic base. She insisted that the withdrawal from Iraq would have to be gradual. She refused to say she would commit U.S. ground troops to Darfur. And then, after Obama promised he would meet with the leaders of countries like Iran, Syria, North Korea and Cuba in his first year in office, she just leveled the guy. "I will not promise to meet with the leaders of these countries," she said, explaining that you need...