New York - The United States has provided 100 million dollars to African countries that will send troops to the joint UN- African Union peacekeeping mission in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN said Thursday. The US fund was to train and equip soldiers for the UN-African mission in Darfur (UNAMID), whose deployment is severely behind because of a lack of logistics and transport, particularly helicopters. Only about 9,000 of the authorized 30,000 military and civilian personnel of UNAMID have been deployed so far.

Chief Cabinet Secretary turns down Sudanese official’s call for Japan to invest in Sudan. Japan said Wednesday that Sudan was too dangerous for investment by Asia's largest economy after a Khartoum official sought investment and played down the bloodshed in Darfur. Nafie Ali Nafie, a top aide to Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir, is visiting Tokyo as part of preparations for a conference on African development Japan plans to host in May.

Canada can use foreign interest in Alberta's tar sands to push for change in Darfur, the House Foreign Affairs committee heard last week.

Canada's Leverage Over Darfur

The Canadian government has major leverage over the situation in Darfur as many of the foreign oil and gas companies operating there also have interests in the tar sands, the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development heard on Feb. 28.