When Sudanese Christian leader John Garang died last year, the Christians in the south lost their hero.

Recently, CBN News Correspondent Gary Lane sat down with new south Sudan president Salva Kiir about efforts to end the violence in Darfur. He found that on a wide range of topics, Kiir's views are very different from his predecessor.

GARY LANE: When you met with President Bush, both of you agreed that U.N. peacekeeping troops should be introduced into Darfur to save lives there. How can that be done, when the president of Sudan will not invite them in?

SALVA KIIR: I think the president needs to be approached to see if he can change his position

LANE: Some say that since the peace agreements were recently signed in Darfur, the violence has actually gotten worse. What do you say? Has it gotten worse? Is it any better?

KIIR: Yes, there is an escalation of violence in Darfur. And that escalation of violence is, of course, from the Janjaweed. And nobody can control them. The AU (African Union) forces are not capable of controlling them. And so that is why there was need for the U.N. forces to go in.

LANE: I think the U.N. and Bush would probably say, but Khartoum could. Or el-Bashir could control them.

KIIR:  If President Bashir was able to control them, then why did he not control them? I thought they had gone off [on their own]. Although he armed them, they are now seemingly independent, acting on their own. The best way to control them is to bring more forces, neutral forces, to disarm them. That is the only way to do it.

LANE: The Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement is mediating talks between Joseph Kony and his LRA [Lord's Resistance Army] resistance group and the Ugandan government. Tell us how that’s going.

KIIR: None of them were ready to come to the talking table. But we were able to bring them to the negotiating table. And they are there sitting.  Whether they agree or not, we have made it a point to make them face one another.

LANE: Mr. President, I have met little children as young as five years old that have had their arms severed by LRA troups. I have met adults who have had their lips and ears cut off by LRA troops. They knew some of the people who were doing this, and they were known members of the LRA. The International Criminal Court has a warrant out for the arrest of Kony and at least four of his top leaders. If you had the chance to meet Kony, would you shake his hand and grant him amnesty, or would you turn him over to the authorities to be tried by the ICC?

KIIR: I would shake his hand. And tell him to come out of the bush and go back home…because President Museveni [president of Uganda] has already declared that he would give them amnesty. I would tend to differ with the people who think that they should not be forgiven. Because the more you don’t forgive them, and you have not arrested them, the more they will commit more atrocities.

LANE: Kony does not even admit that he has done anything wrong, so how can be forgiven?

KIIR: Well, it is not for me to say that he has (repented), but it is him -- it is he, himself, to repent. He should be the one to come out and tell the people of Uganda…’I am sorry; please forgive me for all that I have done.’ And ask that thing also from God. Nobody can repent on his behalf.

LANE: Some of your critics say that you’re not a very aggressive advocate for the southern Christians. What do you say?

KIIR: So far they have not been Islamized.  And here I have been fighting for 21 years to free the people from the bondage that they were in. I do not see the reason why you would doubt me that I cannot fight for the rights of the Christians. I’m leading the people of all faiths; Southern Sudanese has Muslims. I can also fight for their rights.

LANE:  In your meetings with the President and the secretary of state, how do you feel going away from those?

KIIR:  The concern of the President and the administration is why they invited me. And we are thankful to them in that way because, during the war, the government of the United States and the people of America have been the major donors to the NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) operating in Southern Sudan, behind the lines of the SPLA (Sudan Peoples Liberation Army) to save the lives of our people. We are very grateful for that. And we will never forget that these people stood with us during the hour of our need.

LANE:  But it’s not over yet.

KIIR:  It’s not over yet.  We still need them.

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