US donates $20m to help African Union Mission in Darfur

Good news. New US legislation, passed as part of the fiscal year 2007, the Defense Appropriations Act, provides an increase of $20 million to:

(1) assist in the training, support and equipping of the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) to bolster their efforts to protect the civilian population of Darfur;

(2) facilitate the airlifting of AMIS forces into the Darfur region as quickly as possible; and

(3) assist and expand the logistics capability of AMIS forces.

[Via CFD: Text of Senate Resolution 559 & POTP]



Photo: A Rwandan African Union soldier surveys the abandoned village of Hashaba south of El-Fasher in Darfur in June 2006. (AFP/File/Charles Onians)



Photo: Sudanese women walk past African Union soldiers on patrol outside Kebkabiyah, a government-controlled town in northern Darfur, Sudan September 5, 2006. (Candace Feit/Reuters)