Malaria, hepatitis take hold, cholera feared, as first 150 A.U. troops deploy

As predicted, the Sudanese government's talent for stalling combined with the failure of the international community to come up with the resources requested by the U.N. have allowed disease to take hold in the Darfur refugee camps, speeding along the genocidal work of the Janjaweed. The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that malaria and hepatitis have broken out in several camps, and they fear deadly cholera will soon take hold.

The B.B.C. reports that the first 150 African Union troops -- contributed by Rwanda -- will arrive in Darfur this weekend. This is the first half of the 300-person force whose mission will be to protect A.U. ceasefire monitors. However, U.N. special envoy Jan Pronck says that a deployment of 2,500 A.U. peacekeepers is still being considered.

Meanwhile, the Sudanese government has called on tribal leaders to form their own security forces to disarm the Janjaweed. However, this appear to be another attempt to create the illusion of action. The Chicago Tribune reports that, "International human-rights groups warned that black villagers in Darfur, the victims of 18 months of attacks by the so-called Janjaweed, have little capacity for self-protection and that Arab tribes that are the source of the Janjaweed may have little incentive to try to disband them."