Australia to refuse UN demand for Darfur troops

June 14, 2007 (SYDNEY, Australia) — Australia will reject a United Nations request to send troops to the Darfur region of Sudan because the deployment would overstretch forces already committed to countries including Iraq and Afghanistan, Prime Minister John Howard said Friday.

“It is fair to say that we are very heavily committed at the present time and in order to meet a sizable commitment in Darfur, we would have to pull forces out of other parts of the world to send theme there,” Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

“Once you make commitments, you have obligations not to make arbitrarily terminate them,” he added.

Australia has 15 troops in Darfur and Howard confirmed that requests for more had been made through the U.N.

The government had not yet formally responded to that request, he said.
Australia has previously said it would not turn its back on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Howard announced in April that the Australian military will add 400 troops to its contingent of 550 in Afghanistan. It will add another 50 by the middle of 2008, bringing the deployment to about 1,000.

Australia also has almost 1,600 troops in Iraq, plus smaller commitments in trouble spots close to home, East Timor and the Solomon Islands.

(AP)