Reuters: UN has to hold a bakesale to buy a bomber

The actual title is "U.N. has enough infantry for Darfur; needs aircraft":

The United Nations has enough pledges for infantry soldiers, mainly from Africa, for the new Darfur force but needs specialists and attack helicopters from rich nations, U.N. officials said on Tuesday.

The "hybrid" U.N.-African Union operation aims to protect civilians in Sudan's Darfur region, where more than 2.1 million people have been driven into camps and an estimated 200,000 have died in the past four years. The operation is expected to cost more than $2 billion a year plus start-up costs . . .

The council's July resolution invokes Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, under which the United Nations can authorize force. The measure allows the use of force for self-defense, to ensure the free movement of humanitarian workers and to protect civilians under attack, but acknowledges Sudan's sovereignty.

But the watered-down resolution did not allow the new force to seize and dispose of illegal arms, saying it can only monitor such weapons.

What a farce.

Tags: Sudan, Darfur, UN