community was failing the people of Darfur in Sudan and that it was vital that the underfunded African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur be brought to full strength. In September 2006, Prime Minister Blair said he would propose an incentive package for Sudan as part of a new initiative to end the crisis in Darfur and get United Nations peacekeeping troops on the ground. In supporting the United Nations Security Council resolution in 2007 to authorize the deployment of up to 26,000 peacekeepers to try to stop the violence in Darfur, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in a speech before the General Assembly of the United Nations, urged strong support for peacekeeping in Darfur, calling the war "the greatest humanitarian disaster the world faces today". He also called for an end to aerial bombing of civilians, and for greater effort to support peace talks and reconstruction and said: But we must be clear that if any party blocks progress and the killings continue, I and others will redouble our efforts to impose further sanctions. The message for Darfur is that it is a time for change. In 2007, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir accused Gordon Brown of deliberately undermining the Darfur peace talks and demanded a public apology after the prime minister's threat of new sanctions. Brown had said "Of course if parties do not come to the ceasefire there's a possibility we will impose further sanctions on the government." Following the decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant to the Sudanese President, Gordon Brown and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the Sudanese Government to co-operate with the ICC. British Government aid Britain is the second largest single country donor to Sudan contributing £175m of aid since 2003 In 2004, the British government committed 2 planes to help with the aid effort in Darfur. In 2004, Britain confirmed that its aid package had been nearly doubled to £34.5 million, compared to European Union commitment of £7.8 million. In 2006, the British government committed US$76 million to aid efforts in Darfur to help the world's largest aid operation. Non-government aid British aid organisations British Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam were active in Darfur. In May 2004, Oxfam announced it was increasing its staff in Darfur as it was gravely concerned about the humanitarian crisis. Around the same time, the Sudanese Government made it