Darfur school 'bombed from air'

A Sudanese government air strike on a school in Darfur has killed at least seven children, according to the aid organisation Darfur Diaries.

The group's spokeswoman says six more people were killed when a market was bombed during the same attack on the village of Shegeg Karo on Sunday.

A rebel group says there were four air raids in total in North Darfur.

The Sudanese air force has made no comment. Under a UN resolution, all offensive flying is banned in Sudan.

Since the conflict began in Darfur five years ago, the UN estimates that some 300,000 have died and two million have been displaced.

The UN and African Union Mission to Darfur (Unamid) said the reported bombings were "unacceptable acts against civilians".

Its peacekeeping force of 26,000 has yet to be completely deployed to Darfur, and officials say it is unlikely to be up to full strength this year.

Mr_Matt_ said:
They don't have oil.

The world doesn't care.

My participation in Save Darfur.org seems more and more futile each year.

emotedcreations said:t they should certainly be a country of interest, and obviously the conflict in Darfur is a disaster of epic proportions.

Mr_Matt_ said:

I see your point, but I'm shocked the international community finds no reason to do something about a genocide happening in front of us.

If that's not a good reason to invade a country than what is?

emotedcreations said:

The UN is working on it. They've allocated twenty some thousand soldiers in addition the small AU force that's there. They had a hard time getting Khartoum to agree (I don't know what they did to finally get them to allow them in country). But even though some forces are deployed they haven't reached the total number they promised. Short of invading the country, Bush (read: Rice) has done a pretty good job I think exerting pressure. My problem is that when things like this bombing happen, which goes against the current agreement, there needs to be consequences. Something I'd also like to see done, which hasn't to my knowledge, is to increase pressure on China using the Olympics as leverage. It seemed to work with the shipment of arms to Zimbabwe, but who knows what would have happened if it weren't for the persistence of SADC.

SockPuppet said:
I had the strong impression that the South African dock workers' union played a key role. If they hadn't balked at unloading the ship, it would have been a done deal.

emotedcreations said:

You're right, but I was thinking more along the lines of what happened after it left South Africa.