by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent

THE WHITE HOUSE�The path to peace in civil-war torn Sudan may pass through Nairobi with U.S. assistance, according to President George W. Bush.

The U.S. will continue to urge the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum, as well as Southern insurgents fighting a 19-year-old rebellion, toward a settlement at on-going peace talks in Kenya.

"To achieve a lasting and just peace, all parties at the talks must make every effort to ensure (those) discussions are a success," Mr. Bush said in statement May 21 following a meeting with former Sen. John Danforth, the President�s special envoy for peace in Sudan.

Sen. Danforth submitted a report to Mr. Bush detailing his efforts�including two trips to Sudan�along with a set of recommendations. The report called for an increased U.S. diplomatic role in the conflict in cooperation with at least one of two plans proposed by neighbors in the region.

"The principal conclusion of my mission is that the war is not winnable by either side in terms of achieving their present objectives," Sen. Danforth wrote in his report. "Therefore this is the time for a major push for a compromise settlement."

Both sides of the conflict, the report continued, "have given sufficient indications that they want peace to warrant the energetic participation of the United States," in a long-term peace process. That participation may also include U.S. financial and human resources, a State Department official said later.

"The Government of Sudan is prepared to immediately negotiate cease-fire arrangements with the SPLA," Dr. Ghazi Salahuddin Al-Attabani, peace advisor to President Omar Al-Bashir, said in a statement May 18. The government wants no "preconditions," in order "to address the immediate humanitarian needs in the South," he said.

Kenya leads the regional Inter-Governmental Authority for Development (IGAD), which includes Sudan, Ethiopia and Uganda. IGAD has been trying to end the conflict with a peace proposal�at the same time another proposal has been put forward by Sudan�s neighbors Egypt and Libya.

"We intend to actively support the efforts of the Kenyan-led peace process of IGAD," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement following the report�s release. "We will be working with other key international players, in particular Great Britain and Norway, to ensure that this effort succeeds and this conflict is ended."

But, the Danforth Report may be just another effort by the U.S. to stall the process and avoid any leadership role, according to one expert.

"My sense�and I don�t know if it�s a fear or if it�s just a sense�is that Danforth himself may be tiring of this role," Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, told The Final Call. Senator Danforth "made it clear he didn�t want to do this endlessly unless he thought there was some real prospects for movement, and I just don�t know how much of a priority this is within the Bush administration, particularly with Colin Powell.

"This is all along the problem with appointing a special envoy. The administration sees that as a pressure relief valve. They can say to any and all concerned about Sudan, �hey, we�ve got a special envoy and he�s making trips and issuing reports.� And it deflects the attention away from the full-time policy-makers in the Bush administration who really are the ones in the end who are going to move policy and take initiatives if it�s going to happen. That�s why I mention Powell, or even Bush himself," Mr. Booker said.

The Danforth Report also takes into account the allocation of wealth from Sudan�s vast oil reserves. "The fair allocation of oil resources could be the key to working out broader political issues if it were possible to find a monetary formula for sharing oil revenue between the central government and the people of the South," he wrote.

Mutarraf Sadiq, deputy foreign minister of the Sudanese government, announced the government�s readiness to share oil revenues with the South, but not with the rebel movement, according to ArabicNews.com. Sudan produces approximately 205,000 barrels of oil per day, the news report said, of which 145,000 are for export.

Mr. Bush appointed Sen. Danforth as special envoy on Sept. 6, "to bring some sanity to the Sudan." Mr. Danforth visited the country in November and January and met in December with key European partners, England, Norway and Italy.

Sudan�s critics in this country have kept up the pressure against the government. The Sudanese government continues to bomb civilian villages, and it uses the practice of abduction as a tool in fighting the civil war, according to a report from the Organization of International Christian Concern, in The Washington Times May 24.

And while admitting that Sudan has taken some positive steps against terrorism, the Khartoum government has not made sufficient progress to be removed from the U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring nations, released May 22. The U.S. list of seven "state sponsors" of terrorism are: Cuba, Libya, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. The list has been unchanged since 1993 when Sudan was added to the list.

Such contradictions toward the Sudan fuel one suspicion about U.S. policy toward Africa in general: a "Bush administration that is callous in its disregard for African life, where racism is very much a determinant of foreign policy," Mr. Booker warned.