أمريكا وحلف شمال الأطلسى يتوليان مهمة دارفور

Quote: NATO Ready To Provide Help For U.N. Force In Darfur NATO announced on Monday that it is willing to support a United Nations mission to end the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan. NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer met with President Bush on Monday to discuss the matter and Bush lent his support to the idea. After the meeting, De Hoop Scheffer told reporters, 'I'm quite sure, as I told the president, that when the U.N. comes, the NATO allies will be ready to do more in enabling a United Nations force in Darfur.' The crises in Darfur has resulted in at least 180,000 deaths and has seen more than 2 million people displaced from their homes. The fighting has been between ethnic Arabs and non-ethnic Arabs. The government has been accused of supporting Arab militias who have been committing atrocities in Darfur. The Sudanese government has denied any involvement with the militias. Right now, the African Union has peace keeping troops in Darfur but they are under funded and have not always been effective. President Bush has asked the African Union to request that their peace keeping duties be handed over to the United Nations. Bush hoped such a move would 'make it clear to the Sudanese government that we're intent upon providing security for the people there and intent upon helping work toward a lasting peace agreement.' De Hoop Scheffer clarified what he meant by NATO support when he said, 'I'm not talking about NATO forces on the ground. But could you enable the mission by giving logistical support, by going on in the transport of the forces, by giving training, then I think the NATO allies would take a very positive stand on that.' At the present time, the government of the Sudan opposes any U.N. presence in a peace keeping role. Brad Kurtzberg