3 Asian Countries May Join Darfur Force

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

3 Asian Countries May Join Darfur Force

The Associated Press
Saturday, June 16, 2007; 7:09 PM

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- China, India and Pakistan are
considering contributing troops to a peacekeeping force
for Sudan's Darfur region , a U.N. diplomat said Saturday,
after Sudan accepted the possibility of non-African soldiers
in the mission.

The joint African Union-U.N. peacekeeping force will be
predominantly African, said Dumisani Kumalo, South Africa's
ambassador to the United Nations. But if African countries
are unable to muster enough troops, "we will look to other
countries to do that as we do in every peacekeeping force,"
he said.

The U.N. department of peacekeeping operations has said
"China, Pakistan, India and others have started looking
favorably" at contributing to the force, Kumalo told
reporters after a meeting between U.N. Security Council
ambassadors and African Union officials.

After months of U.N. and Western pressure, Sudan agreed
Tuesday to allow a joint force of up to 19,000 peacekeepers
to replace the 7,000-member AU mission now in Darfur. The
ill-equipped and underfunded AU force has been unable to
stop four years of warfare that have left more than 200,000
dead.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/16/AR2007061600984.html

[ChrisF66]

1. India and Pakistan together will do what?

If they really could work together, it's sure a damn hopeful sign that the Republican geopolitical strategy of death, violence, and exploitation MAY not be gaining a lot of traction in the rest of Asia. (Aren't I the optimist?)

The Chinese have done business with both for years, even though they still have border issues with the Indians. The Chinese may be an excellent intermediate in some sort of cooperative agreement that could eventually maybe hopefully possibly end the 60 year mini semi-cold war in Kashmir.

The rest of the word isn't going to wait for us. I pity our diplomats abroad; they must be seen as either mob capos or angels of death.

I love my country, but I hate the criminals who stole it's levers of power

I could just go on and on and on.

[Eugene]

2. They won't necessarily serve together.

There was a call for peace keepers in case the AU can't
muster enough troops, and both Pakistan and India
responded.

Pakistan has a long history of peace keeping operations,
most recently in Congo. The next big hurdle is funding,
since the U.S. is one billion dollars in arrears.