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Britain preparing to send troops to Darfur
| While Liz and Chuckles may be a tad clueless, Mr. Blair is ready to step up to the, er, wicket. |
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has ordered the military to prepare to deploy up to 3,000 soldiers to the conflict-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, the Independent on Sunday reported. The newspaper, without quoting sources, said the deployment would be discussed next month with senior military officials. "When you decide to make an intervention you have got to be able to move fast," it quoted an unnamed minister as saying. Any deployment by Britain would be undertaken as part of a new European Union rapid reaction force, it said.
| In that case it won't be "rapid". |
Fewer than 1,000 peacekeepers are on the ground in Darfur, as part of an African Union force dispatched to help monitor a ceasefire between rebels and government troops. But their presence, expected to be boosted to 3,200, has had little impact so far, amid continued violence between the two sides.
| One peacekeeper per every 100 square kilometers? Yeah, I'd say that's true. |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-12-26 |
