Long Way To Go In Darfur

It seems like every couple months the Sudanese government agrees to allow UN peacekeepers into Darfur, and then a few months go by, and they agree again, and the peacekeepers never actually get there. But the Secretary-General is hailing this latest agreement:

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has described Sudan's decision to allow 3,000 UN troops into Darfur as "a very positive sign".

The UN contingent will provide support for 7,000 struggling African Union troops there.

Sudan's apparent change of heart comes after months of international pressure to accept UN peacekeepers.

But Khartoum is yet to agree to the deployment of a much-larger AU force of 20,000 troops proposed by the UN.

3,000 UN troops to guard an area the size of Texas is a pittance. And the AU forces couldn't do it with a garrison twice that size. This may be an attempt by Khartoum to get the international community off their backs while continuing the slaughter administered by the janjaweed. Part two of this effort is supposed to include attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers. Until then, I'd say that the UN forces aren't even equipped to do the job.

Countries around the world need to continue to put pressure on the Sudanese government until they renounce the violence, start locking up the militia members, take away their weapons and allow the ethnic Darfurians to return to their homes. That'll take more than 3,000 blue helmets to implement.