Bush’s previous U.S. Ambassador at the United Nations, ordained minister and former Missouri Senator John Danforth, recently told a BBC television crew that the Administration’s decision to recognize the atrocities in Sudan as genocide was made largely for “internal consumption.” In other words, as a pre-election sop in the wake of a House resolution, unanimously passed after heavy lobbying by evangelicals, invoking the g-word.
Danforth’s admission is only one more signal that to get the administration to take action on the Darfur crisis, left-leaning humanitarians must enlist the support of those who have Caesar’s ear—conservative Christians primarily concerned about the conflict’s element of religious persecution. Even though most observers peg the Darfur conflict to a combination of racism, factionalism and old grudges, human rights activists must forge relief or intervention strategies that will energize this single-issue ally.
