DARFUR, WE ARE HERE:

Air Force to Help Ferry Sudan Peacekeepers (JOHN J. LUMPKIN, 10/23/04, Associated Press)

The Air Force has sent three cargo planes to central Africa to provide transport and other help for African peacekeepers going to Darfur, the violent region of western Sudan where 70,000 people have died in 20 months of warfare. [...]

Without offering specifics, the White House released a statement Friday night saying President Bush had authorized $2.5 million in Defense Department commodities and services to be used "to support the transportation of African Union forces to Darfur, Sudan." Also Friday, officials in Brussels, Belgium, said the European Union will provide up to $125 million to support African peacekeepers in Darfur as the United Nations warned that crucial relief convoys are imperiled. Some 1.2 million people in Darfur rely on food from the World Food Program, a U.N. agency.

The African Union's Peace and Security Council agreed Wednesday to increase its peacekeeping force in Darfur from 390 to 3,320 troops and civilian police. The one-year operation is to cost $220 million, mainly paid for by the EU and the United States, according to council head Said Djinnit.