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| Africa: Horn |
| France calls for help over Darfur |
| 2004-08-07 |
| France has appealed for greater international involvement to help refugees from Sudan's Darfur region. The French defence minister - after visiting camps for Sudanese refugees in Chad - said more needed to be done. Meanwhile, the United Nations says that the Sudanese cabinet has approved an action plan to ease the crisis. It commits Sudan to begin disarming the Janjaweed militia whose attacks on the civilian population have driven more than a million people from their homes. France has sent about 200 soldiers and begun airlifting relief supplies to eastern Chad - where 150,000 Sudanese refugees have crossed the border to escape the fighting in Darfur. With the rainy season well under way, many roads are impassable and relief supplies are increasingly having to be transported by air. After visiting eastern Chad, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Friday said refugees were not starving and sanitary conditions in the camps were quite good. But - she added - more needed to be done to provide shelter and hygiene, and the real problem was the shortage of helicopters to move supplies. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #9 I say don't touch this with a ten foot pole. Let the French and EU sort it out. This is muslim on muslim crap and the blow back can be on France not the US for once. They will certainly bite the hand that helps them, they are muslims after all. |
| Posted by: FlameBait93268 2004-08-07 2:01:15 PM |
| #8 I like your idea Dr. Steve. I like the idea of analyzing the problem, getting all the variables pinned down, as well as the objectives, and working with people to empower themselves, instead of them becoming wards of the UN. The leverage gained helps us, helps them, and raises consciousness in a part of the world where you have to look up to see down. I like it. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-08-07 1:31:20 PM |
| #7 I'd invite the French to lead the UNSC to a resolution authorizing the use of force to deal with the situation in Darfur. And I'd veto any resolution about Darfur that didn't authorize the use of force. No help for the refugees unless the resolution also deals with the root cause. In the meantime, I'd have a vewy, vewy quiet contingent of Green Berets in eastern Chad teaching young Furian men and women how to handle weapons, basic field tactics and the like. And I'd have a couple of State Dept field agents (who are by and large decent chaps) working to get a "Darfur Liberation Front" pulled together. Nuttin' like an official-like liberation front to make the LLL swoon. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2004-08-07 1:16:22 PM |
| #6 LOL. Some vague something told me you might be from East Texas HA. A certain cadence, the passion, a prediliction for knifes. :) |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-08-07 1:08:20 PM |
| #5 What's that you say, the French are calling for help? Why do I keep thinking of a certain Iraq matter when it comes to the French resistance. And why aren't the French dealing with the root of the Sudanese matter rather than the result? Could it be their commerical holdings in Sudan? Yep, you bet it can. |
| Posted by: Capt America 2004-08-07 12:11:26 PM |
| #4 FUCK france!! They can kiss my East Texas ass. |
| Posted by: Halfass Pete 2004-08-07 11:58:01 AM |
| #3 The French are showing up awful late on this one. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-08-07 2:21:16 AM |
| #2 French politicals seem pretty smug about it all. Camps seem to be clean and sanitary, toilets are moved daily I'm sure. The idiots who are the brunt of the thing sing all the old folk songs! Their kids are so wonderful and full of hope. |
| Posted by: Lucky 2004-08-07 1:26:54 AM |
| #1 Maybe they should do the rounds and see if they can get the security council to vote on it. Not that I disagree with any move to get into Sudan and cause trouble for the government here but France could use a bit of begging, pleading, and buying off if they want to do the right thing. |
| Posted by: yank 2004-08-07 12:48:36 AM |