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How do you evaluate the Sudan peace process right now?

It's close. There are a few areas that seem to be a hang up. Former President Jimmy Carter called me last week about one of the provinces. He was hoping I could have General [John] Garang's influence [Garang leads the Sudan People's Liberation Army]. But I'm a little bit reluctant to get involved, because I think the negotiations over these provinces as to who has control—whether it's SPLA or the government—has to be negotiated at their level. And I think we need to encourage both sides to compromise to work it out.

But if one group is forced to accept a position that the people on the ground will not accept, you're not going to have peace. The people on the ground have to be willing to accept it. And if the leaders sign but the people don't buy it, it's not going to work. But I think they are close and it's going to take, I think, maybe more pressure on the government than on the SPLA. I think we need to hold the government's feet to the fire on this.

You visited Sudan in December. How is the regime treating Christians?

That's a difficult question to answer, because there is an atmosphere in the capital city that peace is at hand. Everyone is sick of war. The government is sick of it. The SPLA [is] sick of it. The people on the streets are tired of it.

The Christians have suffered greatly over the last 20 years, and I think, in some areas of the country, that persecution continues. I'm not saying that it's being encouraged by the government, but it is certainly taking place.

Now the government was very cordial to me. President [Omar al-] Bashir … jokes and laughs and that sort of thing. He said he wanted to convert me to Islam, and I told him I would love to give him that opportunity to try. And I said that, for Christians, we want the same rights as the Muslims have—not more, but just the same. We want the freedom to preach, to proselytize, to convert. No less, no more. And I told him I would love to be able to come back and to hold evangelistic meetings from one end of Sudan to the other.

I said, "Mr. President, I would love to have you come." "Oh," he smiles, "oh yes, of course you're welcome," that sort of thing. What that means, I don't know.

I explained to the president the work that I had been doing in the Sudan for the last 10 years. I told him about our hospital in Lui. And he turned to one of his aides. He said, "Oh, that's the hospital we bombed [in December 2000], isn't it?" And then he laughed.

I looked at him and smiled, and I said, "But you missed." And he just looked at me. He didn't know what to say.

Do you believe that the government intends to respect the religious rights of Christians?

No, not completely, no. It's just not in them. This is a president that about six years ago said that by the year 2000, the church would be eradicated—I think is the word he used—from Sudan. They declared a jihad on the church. And, of course, the church is stronger today, has multiplied many times over, and it's just a fact: The church has grown during this time of persecution.

What does the country most need right now?

They need the United States of America to continue pushing this peace process. And I don't believe we'd be where we are today if it wasn't for George Bush. He has not allowed the events in Iraq and Afghanistan to divert his attention away from Sudan. He has kept the pressure on Sudan. And, as a result, we are very close to a peace process that, once it is signed, it doesn't mean that we can now just go on to something else. We're going to have to monitor this for compliance. We're going to have to keep involved, and it's going to take a long time.

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March 2004, Vol. 48, No. 3