When the United Nations announced that an agreement had been reached to deploy 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur many people took this as great news that the international community was going to take action to stop the genocide in that country.  I immediately read the fine print to determine this agreement was a fraud because it did not lock in any countries to provide peacekeepers and instead relied on countries to volunteer their soldiers for the force. 

With all the indignation and press Darfur has been getting across Europe you would think they would be volunteering a huge force for this mission; of course they are not because they know to actually stop the genocide in Darfur you would have to fight the militias that are causing the genocide which then means likely military casualties, civilian casualties, & collateral damage that would lead to all the second guessing you see of the United States over the war in Iraq.  Europe has clearly shown they rather hide and criticize then be relevant and show leadership. 

This is the reason why this new UN peacekeeping force was planned to be composed by third world nations that typically compose UN peacekeeping missions.

Top Countries Who Provide UN Peacekeepers
Pakistan - 10,173
Bangladesh - 9,675
India - 9,471
Nepal - 3,626
Jordan - 3,564
Uruguay - 2,583

These countries contribute troops because the pay on a UN deployment is much higher than what they get paid in their home country plus their home government doesn’t have to pay them their normal wages during the deployment thus saving the government money.  Does anyone seriously think a mixture of third world nations is going to conduct aggressive patrolling and launch offensive operations to destroy the militias perpetuating the genocide? 

The New York Times doesn’t think so:

“Unless Unamid,” the abbreviation for the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur, “develops a strategy, wises up very fast to the complexity of the conflict in 2007 and gets out of its fortresses, which is more unlikely than ever post-Haskanita, it will very soon become a major part of the problem,” said Julie Flint, a London-based journalist and co-author of “Darfur: A Short History of a Long War.” She cited the amount of water peacekeepers would consume — up to 40 times per person what a typical Darfurian uses, the burden on already broken roads and communications, and the huge expectations the force’s arrival will create.

“Darfurians are expecting to be saved by Unamid, to have roads opened, the janjaweed disarmed and banditry ended,” she said. This, she added, is “mission impossible,” however well the troops perform.

Impossible or not, some experts emphasized that if the force is to have any chance of success, it must be willing to fight robustly and take casualties.

Roméo Dallaire, the former United Nations commander in Rwanda who was ordered to essentially watch the 1994 genocide there explode before his eyes, said the troops must “go inside the camps, do night patrols and snap inspections, essentially go wherever they need to, without the Sudanese Army or police blocking them.” He said they also need to go after “every one of those splinter groups” and they’ll need the proper gear to do so.

Though the United Nations has gotten pledges for the foot soldiers it needs from countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and Thailand, it is still waiting on developed countries to cough up 24 helicopters, as well as heavy trucks and other equipment.  [New York Times]

I think the US needs to get involved here and deploy a crack force of Hollywood peacekeepers that could be augmented with university liberals.  I think George Clooney would make a great commander over there.  His military know how has already been well established with his role in the movie Three Kings. 

Some countries like India who normally contribute UN peacekeeping missions are not sending soldiers at all and are instead sending animals:

India plans to send combat-trained camels to solve the transport headache facing a fledgling UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, officers here say.

The Border Security Force (BSF) said it received a request last week from the United Nations to send the specially schooled animals to the troubled African region.

“In principle, the BSF has agreed to the request and will wait for the UN to approach it through the ministry of home affairs,” said the chief of India’s elite 200,000-member frontier force, A. K. Mitra. [Live Mint]

This is the best idea I have seen yet by the UN, send camels to save people from genocide.  I’m serious this is a great idea.  Since actual soldiers will do nothing to stop the genocide why not give the camels a chance?  At least the camels will give the people of Darfur a means to escape the murderers brutally executing them; that is more than what the actual peacekeepers are doing.  Heck maybe the UN could deploy some elephants and horses as well.  Better yet issue everybody in Darfur their own pit bull for personal protection.  I say let’s give the animals a chance since the United Nations and the western world could care less. 

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