A Thin Coat of Blue

Some commanders have fallen out over tactics, and others have been bought off by Khartoum. And then there are some for whom banditry has become so profitable that their original purpose has been lost. On the road from Nyala to Kass, a 50-mile stretch in south Darfur, there are currently no fewer than 15 different checkpoints, each manned by a different rebel faction. At each barrier, passing vehicles are required to pay a "tax."

The growth in banditry has had a devastating effect on the international aid effort. Hardly a single day goes by without an attack on an aid vehicle. Last year was bad enough: More than 130 humanitarian vehicles were hijacked, 147 staff members were temporarily abducted and 13 aid workers were killed. This year will be worse, with almost 140 vehicles already hijacked, 120 staff members abducted (30 are still missing) and nine killed.

The humanitarian aid operation, the world's largest, is now also under threat. The World Food Programme has been forced to cut its rations in half—so many of their vehicles have been hijacked that the agency cannot get enough food into Darfur. As the hijackings increase, aid agencies rely even more on the humanitarian air service, whose helicopters fly daily to Darfur's remotest parts. But that too is under threat; it costs $77 million a year, and donors are refusing to fully fund it.

Unamid now finds itself stationed in the middle of a war zone, and with no additional forces or equipment, it has been reluctant to step in. As Janjaweed roamed through a camp in Tawila last month, burning down the market and looting homes, peacekeepers watched. Those living in the camp ran into the Unamid compound, but peacekeepers in the compound decided not to run into the camp. "Unamid is not the problem," insisted Henry Anyidoho, the deputy political head of the mission. "The problem is the failure of the international community to give Unamid the equipment it needs to do its job. They expect too much, too quickly, even though they are not providing the means."

Leaders in the United States, Britain and France rarely miss an opportunity to talk about the plight of Darfur, but so far, all three countries have failed to provide Unamid with the equipment it so desperately needs.

At one stage, Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, the force commander, said he considered quitting. "I thought the world did not care about us," he said. Then he read a self-help book, "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living." "It helped me a lot. I am ready to continue."