Parties on both sides of the debate are operating under the assumption that a UN peacekeeping force would be marginally less ineffective than the current African Union force in stopping the Arab Janjaweed militias’ genocide against the black Africans of Darfur. The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and its sympathizers (including Ayman al-Zawahiri) have eagerly invoked Islam when arguing against the presence of non-Muslim and especially Western UN forces inside Sudan, but clearly the desire to continue the Arabization of northern Africa wins out when considering the mostly Muslim black population their militias are terrorizing. And the Arab League has stepped up as an active enabler.
From Reuters: “Arab call for UN delay on Darfur puzzles key envoy”
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A key U.N. Security Council member said on Monday he was puzzled by an Arab League request for an indefinite delay in a planned council meeting on the crisis in Darfur.
Ghanaian U.N. ambassador Nana Effah-Apenteng, the Security Council president for August, said he got a positive response when he asked the Arab League about the meeting last week.
“The initial response I had from the Arab League was that they were positive with respect to such a meeting. So if we do schedule the meeting, I expect the Arab League to participate,” Effah-Apenteng said.
And if they don’t, will their input be excluded in the future?
The Sudanese government, African Union and Organization of the Islamic Conference were also approached about the meeting, tentatively set for next Monday and intended to explore the way ahead in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region, he said.
[…]
With U.N. officials warning of a deteriorating humanitarian situation, the United States and Britain want the council to quickly adopt a resolution clearing the way for the 7,000-strong African Union force now serving in Darfur to be replaced by a bigger and better equipped U.N. force.
But the Arab-dominated Sudanese government has so far refused to accept a U.N. force, and Arab League foreign ministers meeting in Cairo asked the council on Sunday to postpone its planned meeting even before it was made public.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Lam Akol called on Arab nations to instead support a Sudanese plan, under which the Khartoum government would send 10,500 new government troops to Darfur.
New York-based Human Rights Watch has dismissed that plan as a way to avert the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.