On the first day of August, thirty-five evangelical Christian leaders signed a letter urging President Bush to provide massive humanitarian aid to Sudan. The letter shifted the focus to the evangelical movement, which originally was interested in halting violence against Christians in southern Sudan only. Most of the victims in Darfur, a western province, are Muslim.

"We view this as an opportunity to reach out to Muslims in the name of Jesus," said the Rev. Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals. "Christian people are appalled by this kind of genocide, and we don't want it taking place in our generation."

Among the letter's signers were the leaders of several denominations, such as the Assemblies of God and the Church of the Nazarene. They also included the heads of the National Association of Evangelicals, the World Evangelical Alliance and several seminaries, relief groups and evangelical publications.

"Now it is the time for the United States government to take a more decisive role to prevent further slaughter and death," according to the letter.

In addition to "sending massive humanitarian aid," the letter called for "active exploration of all available intervention options--including sending troops to Darfur as has been proposed by the United Kingdom and Australia--in order to stop the killing."

30,000 people are estimated to have been killed since February 2003 when two rebellions broke out in Darfur in protest at the area's marginalisation by the government. In addition, 800,000 to 1 million people have been displaced internally, and at least 110,000 Darfurians have fled to Chad.