New Darfur force 'carries little hope for change'

The African Union today handed over its Darfur peacekeeping mission to an understaffed joint UN force many believe will prove even worse at stemming the violence in Sudan’s war-torn western region.

Only 9,000 of the planned 26,000 peacekeepers are in place and experts believe it will have little immediate effect on improving security in the area where 200,000 people have died and 2.5 million been driven from their homes in four years of violence.