Annan seeks US air support for AU force in Darfur

Reuters ^ | 3 Mar 2006 | Irwin Arieff

[ncountylee]

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Reuters) - The United Nations is asking the United States and other nations with big militaries to provide tactical air support for an ill-equipped African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region.

With the security situation deteriorating on the ground, the AU force will need more international support in the coming months, even if its mission eventually is to be taken over by a U.N. force, Annan wrote U.S. Ambassador John Bolton in a Feb. 23 letter seen by Reuters on Friday.

At the U.N. Security Council's request, Annan has begun planning for a shift from an AU force to a larger and better equipped U.N. mission for the troubled area.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and more than 2 million driven from their homes there by three years of fighting between government-backed Arab militias and non-Arab rebels.

But Sudan has begun lobbying AU states to reject a changeover to a U.N. mission from the AU force, which numbers about 7,000 troops and is known as AMIS.

Under pressure from the Khartoum government, AU foreign ministers at the last minute put off for a week a planned Friday vote to invite the United Nations to take over.

[ncountylee]

How about pulling our people and bombing Turtle Bay?

[Semper Paratus]

Annan seeks US air support for AU force in Darfur

My first thought on this headline was that they drafted the student body at American Universtiy.

[1rudeboy]

Sorry, Kofi. We're kinda' busy at the moment. Deal.

[Chi-townChief]

Sounds more like a job for the frogs.

[Renderofveils]

But Sudan has begun lobbying AU states to reject a changeover to a U.N. mission from the AU force
No doubt their Muslim friends have told them about what happens when the United States gets involved.

[aShepard]

Um, sorry Kofi the Klown, we're busy cleaning up your mess in aisle five!

[sgtbono2002]

They accuse us of everything under the sun , they criticise, they issue BS press statements about Gitmo,but when their fats in the fire they come to us.

I say tell them to shove it. Of course no one cares what I say but if these people are going to expect to pull their irons out of the fire every time they need us, it would behoove them to be a little more careful how they badmouth us.

[Wiz]

Ask France

[endthematrix]

We are going in...

Bolton wrote Annan that the U.S. Military Staff Committee at the U.N. has offered to send military planners to aid in preparations.

Now the US Senate is calling for NATO involvement in Darfur peacekeeping.

[Fruitbat]

...by a U.N. force,...

Not sure we wanna resort to having to call in the big guns here!

[endthematrix]

Russian peacekeeping force to arrive in Sudan by end-April
http://www.sudantribune.com/article.php3?id_article=14349