Not much, but more than nothing

So, African Union peacekeepers will be staying in Darfur for three months more, not just another week. And the UN will be providing them with support - not troops, which the Sudanese government refuses, but equipment and supplies.

It's not much. The 7,000 troops and monitors are far fewer than are needed to curb the killing. Sometimes I wonder if the 22,500 troops the UN is ready to send - if the Sudanese government would accept them - would be enough.

But at least it's not no troops. With no troops, the NGOs would have to pull out. And then the janjaweed would have it all their own way. The problem would disappear - because the people would. (To those who say 'violence never solves anything' I offer the acerbic response of the civics teacher in Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers: Tell it to the city fathers of Carthage. Violence can be very good at solving things - it's just that too often the solution sucks.)

So this is, if not good news, at least not bad news.