Too few and too late - but welcome
AFRICAN TROOPS TO AID IN SUDAN
The crisis in Sudan's Darfur province is so dire that even the smallest glimmer of hope ought to be cheered.
Responding to increasingly urgent international appeals - and direct pressure from the United States and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan - two African nations announced they will send a small contingent of troops to Darfur to safeguard emergency supplies to 1.5 million refugees. About 300 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria are to arrive in Darfur next week, and the African Union is considering sending a much larger force of at least 2,000 soon after.
It could be argued that this help is too little and too late - nearly 50,000 black villagers have died in Darfur already from starvation, disease and in murderous raids by Arab militias known as Janjaweed. But at least the African Union finally has stopped hiding behind its thin justification that sending troops to Darfur would violate Sudan's sovereignty.
The goal is not only to guard and help distribute the desperately needed food and medicines the UN is airdropping, but to disarm the militias who have been unhindered by Khartoum's Arab government. Sudan has denied backing the Janjaweed and made a halfhearted offer to send a small police contingent to Darfur, after the UN Security Council approved a resolution that could result in sanctions if Khartoum fails to defuse the crisis. Khartoum says it is willing to cooperate with the African Union forces being dispatched to Darfur, but yesterday thousands of government supporters protested in the capital against foreign intervention.
The African Union should stiffen its resolve to send a much larger peacekeeping force to put a halt to the atrocities that have turned Darfur's crisis into near-genocidal horror. And it must act quickly.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
AFRICAN TROOPS TO AID IN SUDAN
The crisis in Sudan's Darfur province is so dire that even the smallest glimmer of hope ought to be cheered.
Responding to increasingly urgent international appeals - and direct pressure from the United States and United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan - two African nations announced they will send a small contingent of troops to Darfur to safeguard emergency supplies to 1.5 million refugees. About 300 troops from Rwanda and Nigeria are to arrive in Darfur next week, and the African Union is considering sending a much larger force of at least 2,000 soon after.
It could be argued that this help is too little and too late - nearly 50,000 black villagers have died in Darfur already from starvation, disease and in murderous raids by Arab militias known as Janjaweed. But at least the African Union finally has stopped hiding behind its thin justification that sending troops to Darfur would violate Sudan's sovereignty.
The goal is not only to guard and help distribute the desperately needed food and medicines the UN is airdropping, but to disarm the militias who have been unhindered by Khartoum's Arab government. Sudan has denied backing the Janjaweed and made a halfhearted offer to send a small police contingent to Darfur, after the UN Security Council approved a resolution that could result in sanctions if Khartoum fails to defuse the crisis. Khartoum says it is willing to cooperate with the African Union forces being dispatched to Darfur, but yesterday thousands of government supporters protested in the capital against foreign intervention.
The African Union should stiffen its resolve to send a much larger peacekeeping force to put a halt to the atrocities that have turned Darfur's crisis into near-genocidal horror. And it must act quickly.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
publicado por MP às 11:57
