You know you’re in trouble when you need combat camels to save you. The latest masterstroke in the world’s response to the genocide in Darfur is to import specially trained Indian camels to transport African Union and United Nations peacekeepers around the province. The Sudanese government, the main aggressor in the conflict, has helicopter gunships, but the peacekeepers will have to chase these on humpback because the West won’t send in its own helicopters.
All is not lost, however – Darfurians can be reassured that the camels will have gone through a “crash course in combat” where they will learn how to crawl and, according to the head of the Indian army’s camel division, perform other “soldierly movements.” Phew.
