Sudan: April 7, 2004

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The UN is calling for a peacekeeping force to stop the raiding and killing going on in western Sudan. Everyone in the UN agrees that this is a good idea, but no one is rushing to volunteer troops. The UN feels that the United States should take the lead in this peacekeeping efforts, but American diplomats reply that their troops are fully occupied in Afghanistan and Iraq. No one has any good estimate of the number of dead, although it is thought to be at least a few thousand. Aerial surveys indicate that some 800,000 people have been driven from their homes by Arab militias, and over 100,000 of those have fled across the border to Sudan. Based on past experience, a significant  percentage (ten percent or more) of the refugees will die if food and medical aid does not get to them. So far, the Arab militias are keeping aid groups and reporters out of the area.