United States set to name special envoy

US President George Bush was set to name former Missouri Senator Jack Danforth as his special diplomatic envoy for Sudan, news agencies reported on Thursday. Government officials had said Danforth and Bush administration aides were in the final stages of negotiating terms for the post, according to the US-based Pioneer Press. Danforth, a lawyer by profession, retired from the US Senate in 1994 after representing the State of Missouri for 18 years. Prior to serving in the Senate, Danforth served as Attorney-General for Missouri for eight years. He is also an ordained cleric in the Episcopal Church. In the Senate, Danforth had a reputation as a conservative-to-moderate Republican with a strong sense of personal ethics, a dislike for stridently partisan politics and a knack for finding common ground - all of which brought him respect from both Republicans and Democrats, according to US media sources.

Bush’s first choice for special envoy, former head of the US State Department’s Africa Bureau, Chester Crocker, turned down a job offer in June. Crocker claimed that US domestic political situation was hindering peace efforts in Sudan, and that attention from pressure groups in the US such as the Congressional Black Caucus and conservative Christian groups would make the job of an envoy to Sudan very difficult. The Bush-appointed Special Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, head of USAID Andrew Natsios, travelled to northern and southern Sudan in mid-July for a seven-day assessment mission “to see first-hand the humanitarian situation”. USAID Acting Administrator for Africa Keith E Brown emphasised that Natsios’ mission was not political - though he had an agenda in relation to vulnerability and access - and noted that the US administration was then still deciding on a diplomatic envoy to the Sudan.