John Danforth: Hope to bring peace in Darfur

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Danforth, says the recently signed peace memorandum between the government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement offers the best hope to end the humanitarian crisis and bring peace in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/printed.html?news_id=12391 ' target=_blank>Darfur, in the western part of country.

The 15-member &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/2002/10/17/38306.html ' target=_blank>UN Security Council traveled to Nairobi, Kenya last month to oversee the signing of the memorandum, which calls for a signed peace agreement between the two sides to end civil war that has ravaged Sudan for 21 years. It was only the fourth time in its history that the Security Council has met outside of the United Nations' New York headquarters, says Voice of America.

According to Reuters, Danforth, 68, wrote his resignation letter on Nov. 22 but it was not released by the White House until Thursday. He told reporters he did not want "to sign on for a four-year stint at this point in my life."

"What I really want to do is go home. I mean it's really just as simple as that," he said. "What's most important to me is my wife and my home and having more time with both. I'm a St. Louis guy."

In a speech in St. Louis last month, Danforth said that as a former senator, he was not accustomed to having a policy statement vetted by Washington bureaucrats and transformed into "mush" before he could issue it.

But he said this was not the reason for his resignation because he knew the job entailed representing the view of the U.S. government and not an individual.