As the United Nations Security Council prepares today to vote on renewing the mandate for peacekeeping troops in Darfur, the Save Darfur Coalition issued a report titled "Grounded: the International Community's Betrayal of UNAMID." According to the United Nations over 300,000 Darfurians have died and more than 2.2 million have been displaced since February 2003. Thomas Withington, an aviation expert who wrote the report and is acutely aware of the advantage of helicopters judiciously employed in the theatre to stave off genocide, came to the conclusion:

"-- Of the 18 transport helicopters required by the force, not a single one has yet been offered; this compares to an estimated 350 such helicopters in use in Iraq.

"-- The report identifies more than 20 countries with surplus aircraft that could be made available for the mission.

"-- The six countries best placed to provide transport helicopters, Italy, Ukraine, India, Spain, Romania and the Czech Republic, between them have an estimated 71 helicopters available, four times the requirement.

"-- NATO member states alone could jointly provide 104 such helicopters, almost six times the requirement."

In other Darfur-related news China slammed a censure resolution by a bipartisan group of members of Congress for Beijing's human rights record. The full report on helicopters and Darfur can be downloaded here.

[Image:BBC]