PM Howard Says No To Diggers In Darfur...

It's interesting to look at how the world percieves Aussies. We're the 'Lucky Country', the small island with the big heart, etc, etc.

It is also a well known, well established fact that we have amongst the best Soldiers in the world. Our greatest issue seems to be we can not supply in line with the demand on our government and ADF.

With an already overstretched commitment, Australia has been approached by the UN to contribute to a 19,000 strong peace keeping force for Darfur.

Diggers in Darfur 'would have cost Iraq' Cameron Stewart June 15, 2007 JOHN Howard says Australia would have been forced to pull troops out of Iraq or Afghanistan to meet a United Nation's request to send Diggers to Darfur. “It's very fair to say that we are very heavily committed at the present time," Mr Howard said today. “In order to meet a commitment, a sizable commitment in Darfur, we would have to pull forces out of other parts of the world to send them there. “And we have commitments there; once you make commitments, you have obligations not to arbitrarily terminate them.” But Opposition leader Kevin Rudd blamed the Government's open-ended commitment to Iraq for its decision to reject the UN's plea for help in the war-ravaged western Sudan. "If you've got so many troops tied down in Iraq and Mr Howard has no exit strategy from Iraq, that means we don't have the capacity to assist in humanitarian crises like Darfur - thats the problem," Mr Rudd said. The Australian revealed today that the Government had rejected a UN request to send Diggers to Darfur, fearing it would overstretch the nation's defence force. The UN asked Australia for as many troops as it could reasonably spare for a new joint African Union-United Nations peacekeeping force of up to 19,000 for Darfur. Sudan this week agreed to accept non-African troops into Darfur for the first time as part of a hybrid African Union-UN force to help stop fighting that has killed more than 200,000 and displaced 2.5 million since 2003. Link

One thing I have to point out is you really shouldn't pay to much attention to what Kevin Rudd has to say. We are in the middle of the lead up to Elections and he would argue black was white if he thought it might help his chances of becoming Prime Minister.

I have been following the situation in Darfur for some time and believe it is amongst the most horrific we are currently seeing in the world. The problem is that now we are already fighting major conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as supporting other countries fighting for democracy and peace. The African Governments have actively fought to keep Western forces out of their country. I believe it is quite significant progress that they are now allowing a peace keeping force to work alongside them in restoring stability to their region, I just wonder where they expected to find that force. Australia and America are both over committed as it is. Australia had a decision to make - Pull troops out of Iraq to support Darfur or keep our troops in Iraq to see that fight through to it's end.

Australias military retention rates are low. Unlike America, we are not exceeding our expectations here. We are seeing more personnel leave than we can replace. While the situation in Darfur has reached crisis point, and it deeply saddens me that we can not contribute forces, there really is only so much we are able to do.

Well Done PM Howard for standing strong.

AC