 | ...and fail to increase Hamas' allowance: |
Arab leaders reached a summit deal to provide funding for cash-strapped African Union troops in Sudan's Darfur region amid international pressure to accept the dispatch of a UN force. The move came after Sudan pressed fellow members of the Arab League to reject plans for the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Darfur, where war, disease and famine have cost up to 300,000 lives in three years. Announcing a deal after a closed-door session at the summit, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told reporters that Arab leaders had also agreed to strengthen the AU force by providing troops from Arab states. Palestinian foreign minister Nasser al-Qidwa confirmed that an agreement had been reached to "finance the AU troops for a period of six months" or until the end of its current mission which was renewed in March. He said Arab leaders had called on Arab African countries to send more troops to join the AU force.| Sorry, people of Darfur. You're screwed. |
Leaders of the 22-member Arab League failed however to fill the gap emerging over a threatened Western freeze on aid to a Hamas-led Palestinian government, appearing set to keep their own aid at existing levels. The Palestinian Authority, soon to be led by the radical Islamic group Hamas, looked set for bad news after Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal urged Arab countries to open their coffers to help stave off a widening financial crisis. Meshaal specifically asked for some 130 170 million dollars a month. But a draft resolution on the Palestinian question, which is expected to be adopted, has suggested keeping the monthly allocation at the 55 million dollars decided at last year's summit in Algeria.Beshir urged his counterparts not to succumb to international efforts to isolate Hamas over its refusal to recognise Israel, forswear violence or honor previous agreements with the Jewish state. The summit's agenda was squeezed into one day from the originally planned two days, and some leaders have already left Khartoum. But a final declaration is not expected before Wednesday.| "Wouldja look at the time? So sorry, gotta make like a camel and ship out!" |
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