Sudan Plan Launched as Danforth Challenge

President Bush launched a U.S. initiative Thursday to end Sudan’s long and brutal civil war, saying he wants to “spare that land from more years of sorrow” but acknowledging the daunting challenge ahead.

In an announcement at the White House Rose Garden, the president named former Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) as special envoy to lead the diplomatic effort.

Danforth said he also harbors no illusions about the difficult task, adding that the chances of peace in Africa’s largest country will depend “on the will of the combatants” to end the bloodshed.

Danforth will consult widely with officials and diplomats in the region in hopes of mediating an end to one of the world’s longest-running wars, waged by Sudan’s Muslim government in the north and Christian and animist militias seeking autonomy in the south.

The combatants have sought U.S. help in brokering peace, though four previous American attempts to end the conflict have failed. The 18-year-old war has claimed more than 2 million lives.

“I am under no illusions: Jack Danforth is taking on an incredibly difficult assignment,” Bush said. “The degree of difficulty is high. But this is an issue that is really important; it’s important to this administration, it’s important to the world to bring some sanity to the Sudan.”

The president added: “For nearly two decades, the government of Sudan has waged a brutal and shameful war against its own people, and this isn’t right and this must stop.”

Danforth, 65, an Episcopal priest, said some experts he has talked with recently have expressed strong doubts about the U.S. ability to bring about peace.

However, he added, “I believe, as does the president, that if there is even the chance that we can help the peace process, we should seriously explore the possibility that America can do so.”

Danforth added that “the possibility of peace depends on the will of combatants, not on the actions of even the best-intentioned outsiders, including the United States. Perhaps America can encourage peace; we cannot cause it.”

Since retiring from the Senate in 1994, Danforth has served in a variety of appointed positions, including leading an inquiry into the deaths of about 80 Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, in 1993 during a raid by federal agents. The probe concluded that the agents did not start a fire that led to the deaths of those inside the religious sect’s compound.