Looming Horror

last updated 8 January 2015

Darfur

The African Union peacekeeping troops in Sudan are unable to protect civilians, international aid agencies said this week. Donor countries have failed to provide the 7,000 A.U. troops with enough money or equipment to allow them to patrol the areas of Darfur where fighting is still raging. “We are very close to the possible scenarios of genocide, or Rwanda scenarios, if you don’t have any organized international force on the ground,” said Pekka Haavisto, the European Union representative to Sudan. The Darfur crisis began in 2003, when black tribes revolted against the Arab-dominated government. Since then, Arab militias supported by the government have killed some 200,000 people and driven 2 million from their homes.