Fighting a Peace Plan.(Christian aid groups in Sudan oppose plan for peace)

The night air turns cool in the tiny village of Malual Kon, in the parched Bahr al-Ghazal province of southern Sudan. Commander Paul Malong Awan, holding a grenade launcher, steps outside his fortified home to greet his dinner guests. Malong is a warlord who commands 6,000 troops. Officially, he fights with the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the southern Sudanese rebel organization that, until a recent ceasefire, had waged a fierce civil war against the Muslim north for nearly 20 years. But Malong, who is at odds with the SPLM leadership negotiating a peace settlement, told NEWSWEEK he cannot drop his objective--"a secular state for all of Sudan." He added: "I will fight for 100 years, with or without international support."

Malong's guests--two representatives of the Swiss-based human-rights group Christian Solidarity International (CSI), along with five "antiterror consultants" from Archangel Corp., a Colorado-based security firm--don't believe he should fight alone. The burly military advisers once served with the most elite units in the world--U.S. Special Forces, Russian Spetsnaz, British SAS. For two hours, over a meal of goat and flatbread, they share tactical information with Malong. John Giduck, the president of Archangel Corp., claims his security group worked with Malong "for the betterment of his troops and the protection of his people."

Since the Sudanese civil war began, more than 50 nongovernmental organizations--most working under a U.N. umbrella--have provided aid services to victims on both sides of the conflict. CSI, along with the U.S.-based groups Voice of the Martyrs and Samaritan's Purse (run by Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham), are among a handful of Christian groups that have taken sides in the dispute. They work exclusively in southern Sudan--and provide not only humanitarian aid but also political and sometimes logistical support for the southern rebels.

The agenda of some Christian aid groups in Sudan is crucial now because, after a year of talks pushed along by the Bush administration, the Khartoum government and the SPLM are, in fact, edging toward a settlement. It would give broad autonomy to the animist and Christian south but keep the Muslim government in power. That prospect appalls the Christian groups, who decry Khartoum's human-rights violations and oppose any pact that leaves the current government in place. Even during the peace talks, they've lobbied the U.S. government to provide military aid and weaponry to the SPLM. Their bellicose stance worries ...