United Nations: The US envoy for Darfur increased the pressure on the United Nations and UN member countries on Thursday, saying the world's response to the crisis in western Sudan had been "anaemic."
Only 9,000 of the required 26,000 UN-African Union peacekeepers have been deployed in Sudan's war-racked Darfur region. Western governments have blamed Khartoum for the slow pace of deployment, saying it has dragged its feet in approving the composition of the force and set up unnecessary obstacles.
UN peacekeeping officials also complain of a lack of helicopters sorely needed to move troops around Darfur, a vast region roughly the size of France.
Some diplomats say that neither Washington nor Russia has put enough pressure on China to influence Khartoum to stop trying to delay the deployment.
Richard Williamson, the US presidential envoy for Darfur, made it clear that Washington is running out of patience. In addition to pushing Sudan, he is piling pressure on the United Nations and troop-contributing countries to deploy more soldiers as soon as possible - with or without helicopters.
"The international community's response to the genocide in slow motion in Darfur has been anemic and these sorts of litanies of excuses are the reason," Williamson said. Washington has offered neither troops nor helicopters, but Williamson noted that the United States had committed a total of some $500 million [about Dh1.8 billion] to the Darfur peacekeeping effort.
He also said the United Nations had only spent a quarter of nearly $1.3 billion [about Dh4.7 billion] it had access to for its Darfur mission. "That's a lot of dough they could be spending to make some things happen," he said.
About 2.5 million people have fled their homes during the five-year war in Darfur. International experts estimate some 200,000 have died in violence Washington calls genocide. Khartoum denies genocide and puts the death toll at 9,000.
