By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- Former U.S. Senator John Danforth was sworn in July 1 as the U.S. chief delegate to the United Nations, replacing Ambassador John Negroponte who is in Baghdad heading up the new U.S. embassy in the Iraqi capital.
 
At a White House ceremony, President Bush said that Danforth is being sent to U.N. headquarters with "a clear mandate: American will work closely with the United Nations to confront terror and to fight the suffering and despair that terrorists exploit."
 
"In all our work at the U.N., Ambassador John C. Danforth will be a strong voice for the humane and decent conscience of America," Bush said.
 
In his response, Danforth said that "by seeking consensus and working together, there is much the United Nations can do, certainly in Iraq, but also in combating terrorism and preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and bringing peace to the Middle East and stability to Africa, among others."
 
"We face a conflict between civilization and the forces of chaos. The task before the United Nations is for civilization to find ways to pull together to meet the common challenges we face. It is with this task firmly in mind that I go to the United Nations," the new ambassador said.
 
The former senator is "exceptionally well prepared" for the U.N. post, the president also said.
 
"During his years on Capitol Hill, he earned the admiration of colleagues on both sides of the aisle," the president said. "Jack is a man of strong convictions, unquestioned integrity, and great decency. He is a man of calm and judicious temperament who goes about his work with deliberation and a good will that draws others to his cause."
 
The president noted that Danforth will represent the United States at the United Nations at a "critical time when the United States and the United Nations are facing new tests."
 
"We are called to defend the peace against ruthless terrorist networks and against outlaw regimes that support and shelter them. We are called to preserve the peace by building good relations among the great powers. We're called to extend the peace by replacing poverty and repressions and resentment around the world, especially in the broader Middle East," Bush said.
 
"America is determined to lead all in these great objectives, yet no nation can achieve them alone," the president said. "Global challenges must be answered by active, effective, multilateral institutions."
 
Danforth, 68, has had a distinguished public service career, serving as the attorney general of Missouri and then as U.S. senator. Before accepting the U.N. posting, he was a partner in a St. Louis/Washington law firm and President Bush's special envoy to the Sudan. A member of the U.S. Senate for 18 years, Danforth served on the Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Select Committee on Intelligence. He is also an ordained Episcopal minister.
 
In his remarks during the swearing in ceremony Danforth said that "the United Nations is . . . essential to winning the war against terrorism."
 
"Too often disagreements among nations on how to confront this new threat have been bitter, as though the enemy were ourselves not those who fly planes into buildings or build the power to destroy cities," Danforth said.
 
But Resolution 1546 on Iraq unanimously adopted by the Security Council in late June "demonstrated how nations can come together," the ambassador said. "All members agreed on the transfer of sovereignty to a new interim Iraqi government. All members agreed to the central role to be played by the United Nations in Iraq."
 
The task now, he said, "is to build on the momentum begun by Resolution 1546."
 
One of Danforth's first challenges will be dealing once again with the Sudan, especially with the situation in Western Sudan, where many have described the situation as genocide. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan were both in the region in the past several days.
 
The United States has already begun informally circulating a draft resolution that would endorse the deployment of international monitors to the Darfur region under the leadership of the African Union and impose an arms embargo on the Jingaweit militias.