SCOTT SIMON, host: Do you see settling that civil war in southern Sudan as key to settling the ethnically based conflict in Darfur where tens of thousands of people have been killed and over a million displaced?
SUSAN RICE: Well, Scott, I think there are distinct conflicts that have certain links. But the fact is, the United States has long had a real interest in resolving the north-south conflict, but I think it would be a grave mistake on the part of the United States government, and indeed on the part of the international community, to subordinate the Darfur conflict to the north-south peace agreement, as badly as we all want to see that north-south agreement achieved, because the message will be to the government of Sudan that it can get away with killing civilians with impunity.
Commentary
Assessing the Peace Talks in Africa
November 20, 2004