peacekeeping force

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6 Americans Dead After Black Hawk Crashes in Egypt

Helicopter went down during routine peacekeeping mission near the Red Sea: MFO

(Newser) - Eight peacekeepers, including six Americans, were killed in a helicopter crash during a routine mission in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, the international force that monitors the Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement said Thursday. A ninth peacekeeper, also American, was badly injured, per the AP . The Multinational Force and Observers said a French...

UN Votes to Increase Troops in South Sudan to 12.5K

80% increase as Security Council calls for 'immediate cessation of hostilities'

(Newser) - The UN Security Council has voted to temporarily increase the UN peacekeeping force in conflict-torn South Sudan to 12,500 troops from 7,000, a nearly 80% increase. The resolution adopted unanimously today by the UN's most powerful body will also increase the UN's international police contingent from...

France Rushes Troops to 'Collapsing' Central African Republic

UN warns of rebel atrocities, looming chaos

(Newser) - France will send 1,000 troops to the Central African Republic to keep growing chaos at bay, the defense minister says, announcing his country's second military foray into a troubled former colony this year. The announcement came a day after a top UN official warned of mass atrocities and...

Syria Continues Assault on Homs

23 reported killed yesterday as Arab League seeks peacekeepers

(Newser) - Syrian tanks have relaunched their assault on Homs, shelling the beleaguered city for a 10th day today after the government's rejection of the Arab League's attempts to launch a UN peacekeeping mission in the country. The League's push was today also rejected by Russia, which said a...

WikiLeaks: UN Peacekeepers Demanded Sex for Food

Beninese booted from Ivory Coast for violations with underage girls

(Newser) - UN peacekeepers routinely pressured underage girls for sex in exchange for food and shelter in the Ivory Coast, according to explosive new information uncovered in a US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks. Eight of 10 underage girls polled in 2009 "said they had ongoing sexual relationships with Beninese soldiers...

China: Those Weren't Our Bullets in Darfur

Beijing is trying to block UN report to the contrary

(Newser) - China is attempting to block publication of UN report stating that Chinese bullets were used in attacks against UN peacekeeping forces in Darfur, the Christian Science Monitor reports. The report states that 11 different kinds of Chinese-made bullet casings were found at sites where government-allied militia members attacked UN or...

Human Rights Watch: UN Supports Atrocities in Congo

Mission provides logistical support to brutal national army

(Newser) - Women and children beaten to death with clubs, hacked up with machetes—or, if they're "lucky," gang-raped and left alive. Such shocking acts are sadly commonplace in the conflict that has consumed Congo, perpetrated by both Rwandan rebels and their enemies in the Congolese army. The army, however,...

UN Staffers Kidnapped in Darfur

Peacekeeping troops establish contact, plead for their release

(Newser) - Two staffers supporting peacekeeping operations in Darfur were kidnapped from their homes this morning, the AP reports. The joint UN-African Union peacekeeping force has established contact with the abductors. “We are here to protect civilians," the head of the mission told them. "We are not part of...

Africa May Force Obama's Military Hand
 Africa May Force 
 Obama's Military Hand 
OPINION

Africa May Force Obama's Military Hand

Despite war weariness, Americans may have to prepare for more troops oversees

(Newser) - As Barack Obama prepares to become America’s new president, the dire situation in Africa may upend his anticipated plans to extract the US from overseas military commitments, the Economist writes. While Americans may be wary of bigger burdens oversees, “history does not take a holiday just because America...

UN Boss Jets to Congo Amid New Fighting

Fears of a wider conflict grow as rebel leader threatens to take Goma

(Newser) - UN chief Ban Ki-Moon is traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo to press for a peace deal just as new fighting breaks out, the Guardian reports. The Congolese government has rejected peace talks with the rebels, who have vowed to attack the provincial capital of Goma and continue a...

Georgian Tapes Imply Russia Started War

Troops may have entered South Ossetia before Georgia attack

(Newser) - Although the bloodshed has ended, Georgia and Russia are still fighting—over which nation was the aggressor in last month's conflict. The Georgian government, which insists that Russia invaded its territory, has released tapes of intercepted phone calls implying that a Russian regiment entered South Ossetia 24 hours before Georgia...

Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO
Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO
OPINION

Facing Russia, Ex-Soviet States Need NATO

Joining alliance key to security, Ukraine's president says

(Newser) - Russia's military actions in Georgia sent shudders throughout the region, Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko writes in the Guardian. Not only did the war reveal the Kremlin's willingness to commit "massacres" for political gain; it also exposed the weakness of the UN and European security organizations. The West needs to...

Russians Pull Back, But West Not Satisfied

'Peacekeeping' posts appear likely to remain on Georgian soil

(Newser) - Having withdrawn from the Georgian city of Gori, Russia said tonight it is in full compliance with a cease-fire agreement, the New York Times reports. Despite criticism from the US and France, nations that helped broker the deal, Moscow continues to occupy the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia,...

Sudan's President to Face Genocide Charge

Some fear move out of the Hague could fuel instability in region

(Newser) - The International Criminals Court will charge Sudan leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir with genocide Monday in the wake of a five-year campaign of violence that has left hundreds of thousands dead, the Washington Post reports. It will be the first time the court has charged a sitting head of state. But...

Tsvangirai: Why I Dropped Out
 Tsvangirai: Why I Dropped Out  
Opinion

Tsvangirai: Why I Dropped Out

MDC leader explains refusal to contest Zimbabwe election

(Newser) - ZImbabwe's opposition leader tells the Guardian that he dropped out of Friday's run-off election because he "can no longer allow Zimbabwe's people to suffer this torture." Morgan Tsvangirai explains that ending his campaign was "not a political decision" but an attempt to stop the violence inflicted by...

Report Bares Child Abuse by Peacekeepers

Watchdog should be appointed to protect kids, charity urges

(Newser) - A shocking number of children as young as 6 are being sexually abused by peacekeepers and aid workers sent to protect them, a top global charity has found. Children are “suffering sexual exploitation and abuse in silence,” fearful of speaking out, said a representative for Save the Children....

UN Troops Traded Guns for Gold

Pakistani, Indian troops armed rebels in Congo, BBC finds

(Newser) - UN peacekeeping troops sold weapons to guerrilla fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a BBC investigation claims, charging that the UN suppressed the story for political reasons. Pakistani and Indian troops, part of the UN's largest peacekeeping force of 17,000, are said to have traded munitions for gold....

Rebels Flee Chad's Capital
Rebels Flee Chad's Capital

Rebels Flee Chad's Capital

Government declares victory; insurgents say move allows civilians to escape hostilities

(Newser) - Rebels pulled out of Chad’s capital city of N’Djamena last night, temporarily ending a 2-day siege, but renewed hostilities broke out today, the AP reports. The rebels said they pulled back to allow civilians to flee, an offer hundreds took advantage of. But the interior minister insisted the...

Sudan to Call Darfur Ceasefire Ahead of Talks

Government to meet rebels this weekend; peace prospects dim

(Newser) - Sudan will declare yet another ceasefire in Darfur this weekend, the Guardian reports, as the government sits down with the region’s rebel factions to try to hammer out a peace accord. Government officials called it a “confidence-building measure” designed to “give negotiators a chance to get out...

UN Chief to Visit Darfur Camp
UN Chief to Visit Darfur Camp

UN Chief to Visit Darfur Camp

Ban wants to witness plight first hand

(Newser) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit a refugee camp in Darfur to see for himself the plight of displaced people there and conditions facing UN peace keepers who will arrive next year. Ban, who's in Sudan on an official visit, is playing a double role, encouraging the Sudanese...

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