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Larger Darfur Force Needed, Bush, Annan Say
President Bush and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan agreed on the need for a bigger, more mobile peacekeeping force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region during a White House meeting yesterday, but Annan made no specific requests for U.S. military help.

Speaking to reporters after the Oval Office session, Annan said it is premature to ask for more than a general commitment from the United States until the United Nations determines what it needs for the planned peacekeeping force in Darfur. "Once we've defined the requirements, then we will approach the governments to see specifically what each of them will do in terms of troops, in terms of equipment," Annan said.
Send in the mighty Uruguayans!
Annan has said the African Union troops have been hamstrung by a lack of darned near everything air transport capabilities and modern communications as they have attempted to keep the peace in the region, which is the size of France.

The United States has sent a small contingent of military strategists to help plan the U.N. intervention in Darfur, a commitment that Annan did not press to expand during his meeting with Bush. "I'm very happen that we have agreed to work together on the Darfur issue," Annan said. "It is not going to be easy for the big and powerful countries with armies to delegate to Third World countries," Annan said. "They will have to play a part if we are going to stop the carnage that we see in Darfur."
I hear the Russians are available. As are the Chinese. Perhaps the Spanish? Maybe the Greeks?
Annan said that a peacekeeping force in Darfur needs modern communications and rapid air transport to intervene in time to stop violence -- all beyond the capabilities of African Union peacekeepers.
And lots of other countries that have refused to spend money to ensure their militaries can communicate and move rapidly.
Bush, speaking to reporters after the Oval Office meeting, pointed out that he recently met with Rebecca Garang, the widow of John Garang, the vice president of Sudan. Garang was killed in a helicopter crash last summer, not long after a peace accord marked the end to two decades of civil war in southern Sudan. "She and I had a long discussion not only about the Darfur region, but about implementing" the fragile peace accords, Bush said.
Posted by: Steve White 2006-02-15
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=142665