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04/07/2006:
"A replay of Iraq beckons in Darfur if we send in troop"
If there is a world journalism record for being arrested by Sudan's dictatorial government, I probably hold it: I was detained on the first morning of my first visit. Despite many less eventful subsequent visits to Sudan, I remain very wary of the regime.Nevertheless, Khartoum does have a point about the dangers of western military intervention in Darfur. In February President Bush, during an unscripted question-and-answer session in Florida, suggested an expanded international role in Darfur, with "Nato stewardship" of a UN force there. This statement caught many policy makers off guard.
Nato is already assisting with logistics for the 7,800 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. Bush is pushing for a large UN force - perhaps 20,000 troops - to replace the AU, arguing that this would end the fighting there. This sounds good but won't work. Putting white, western, Christian troops in Darfur would unite all those fighting each other - in a holy war against outsiders. Defence officials in London and Brussels cautioned Washington by invoking the 1993 debacle in Somalia. But the genie of western-directed forces is out of the bottle.
guardian.co.uk
