About 140 Rwandan soldiers arrived in Sudan’s Darfur province yesterday, becoming the first foreign army deployed in the Iraq-sized region since Arab militiamen began attacking black African farmers 17 months ago.

But their arrival sparked immediate conflict, with Rwanda declaring the troops would use force if necessary and Sudan responding such action would not be tolerated.

The troops were airlifted to Darfur to protect unarmed military observers monitoring a ceasefire between government forces and rebels.~ The Australian , August 17, 2004