African Union soldier in Darfur.
Will the AU soldiers stay in Darfur? If so,
will they be any more effective than they
have been so far? If they go, will they
be replaced by UN forces? The clock
ticks toward September 30.
Image © Refugees International
What a difference a weekend makes. On Thursday hopes ran high that the United Nations was finally on the verge of taking over peacekeeping operations in Darfur--a long-anticipated and much-needed move from the perspective of the millions of Darfuri civilians caught up in what some believe is an ongoing genocide. But Sudan's president has since dashed those hopes, though he relented a little Monday saying that African Union troops would likely be allowed to stay if their mandate was extended. Find out more about that in the news section, and in features, discover what the presence of peacekeeping troops means for the average Darfuri. Plus, in the action alert section, find out about Saturday's planned events to press U.S. officials to flex their diplomatic muscles with Khartoum--that could be all that stands between peace and war for millions in Darfur.

Also in the news, among other stories, India is sending 125 female peacekeepers to Liberia and lawmakers are making a transatlantic push to outlaw research on apes. In analysis, Greg Muttitt looks back at U.S. diplomatic and corporate interventions in Iraq's oil industry since the U.S.-led invasion of the country and wonders if the oil really does belong to the Iraqi people, as President Bush says.

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