WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Thursday appointed former Sen. John Danforth as special envoy to Sudan to work for peace in the oil-rich country which has been torn by nearly two decades of civil war.(Read photo caption below)
``It's important to the world to bring some sanity to the Sudan,'' Bush said as he named the Missouri Republican as ''America's envoy for peace'' in the East African state, where about 2 million people have died in 18 years of conflict.
``I'm under no illusions. John Danforth is taking on an incredibly difficult assignment,'' Bush said at the Rose Garden ceremony. ``But this is an issue that is really important. It's important to this administration.''
Danforth, an ordained minister, will lead a diplomatic initiative aimed at mediating between Sudan's Muslim government and Christian and animist militias fighting for autonomy.
At least four earlier U.S. attempts to end the fighting failed but the Bush administration, pressured by Congress, has indicated it would put a high priority on the issue.
A succession of droughts has added to the destruction of war. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Congress in March: ''There is perhaps no greater tragedy on the face of the Earth.''
STRAINED RELATIONS
In May, Powell announced the first U.S. food aid to victims of drought in the north since 1989. He also called on the government to hold serious peace talks to try to end the war.
U.S. lawmakers are debating legislation that would condemn the rights abuses, aid the rebels in Sudan's south and punish foreign companies engaged in oil and gas production in Sudan.
Washington has a very strained relation with Sudan's Arab rulers.
In 1996, former President Bill Clinton imposed trade and other sanctions and closed the embassy in Khartoum. Sudan, also the subject of United Nations sanctions, is one of seven nations the State Department lists as sponsors of terrorism.
In August 1998, the United States bombed a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory on grounds, much disputed, that it was preparing to produce ingredients for chemical weapons. It said Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden had a stake in the plant.
The naming of Danforth as an envoy, applauded by several U.S. lawmakers, was seen as a step forward, although the former senator admitted he had ``no expertise'' on the issue.
Danforth said peace prospects will hang on ``the will of combatants,'' not on outside mediators, and that he was committed to working with both sides. ``Perhaps America can encourage peace. We cannot cause it,'' he said.
The U.N. Security Council is expected to lift its sanctions this month unless there is a last-minute change of position by the United States. The U.N. sanctions were imposed in 1996 to force Sudan to hand over suspects in an assassination attempt against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
OIL INTERESTS
The Bush administration, which includes many senior officials with links to the oil industry, has shown a strong interest in trying to resolve conflicts that could disrupt potential suppliers, from Sudan to the Caucasus.
Sudan began exporting oil from the government-controlled territory in the north in 1999. But there may be larger reserves in the south.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Former Sen. John Danforth stands with President George W. Bush at a White House news conference where it was announced that Danforth was appointed as special envoy to the Sudan, September 6, 2001. Bush appointed Danforth as envoy to try to win support for a peace initiative in the oil-rich country wracked by decades of civil war. (William Philpott/Reuters)