Support their Troops!

An assessment of the African Union from an aid worker on the ground in Darfur gives very little cause for hope.

There are far too few troops in Darfur and the ones that are there are underequipped. The international community has failed the people of Darfur by allowing the vastly unprepared African Union to attempt to police this crisis alone. By not even helping to provide basic necessities to the peace keepers in the region, the world has made quite clear that it has no interest in helping to resolve the situation in Darfur. Sleepless in Sudan rightly criticizes the cuts that the U.S. Congress has made in pledges to funding the African Union. But where is the rest of the world in this? Canada has pledged over a hundred armoured personnel carriers, of which 3 have arrived so far. If Canada is the great peacekeeping nation that it always claims, why haven't we taken a lead on this? Why haven't we offered the African Union more support? I know that we are facing a never ending health care crisis in this country, but maybe we could take a moment to care about someone else in this world for a change.