Feingold Urges Administration to Appoint a Special Envoy for Darfur September 9, 2004 Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Russ Feingold today urged the administration to appoint a Presidential Envoy for Sudan to bring daily, high-level focus to the U.S. response to the Darfur crisis. In questioning U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Feingold pushed for the administration to place a senior official in the position. Current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Danforth was the last person to hold the position but when he left for his new post at the U.N., he was not replaced. The U.S. also recently recalled the most senior official at the Embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. "We need someone in charge," Feingold said at the hearing. "I strongly urge President Bush to appoint a senior envoy to focus exclusively on the crisis each and every day - to keep sustained pressure on Khartoum and, importantly, to convince other key international actors to increase their engagement." When Feingold asked Powell if the administration had planned on naming an Envoy, Powell said several individuals were monitoring the situation in Darfur, none of whom were senior officials. Powell said that the administration has not yet made a judgement on putting someone in the envoy position but said if it seemed appropriate, he "would have no reservations about doing that." "There is widespread agreement that we must act quickly and effectively to fix the terrible situation in Sudan," Feingold said. "In order to give this situation the attention it deserves, the administration must put someone of significant stature in charge of this operation."

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