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Master
in Middle East Studies, Uppsala University-Sweden.
Roni Doumit Harb
880 Sudanese Slaves Liberated
Thousands Remain Enslaved in Darfur and Kordofan
MALWAL KON (Sudan): 880 liberated slaves returned to their homeland of
northern Bahr El Ghazal, Southern Sudan between 23 January and 2 February.
Of the freed slaves, 607 were assembled in Northern Sudanese towns and
villages and transported by truck to Southern Sudan by the Government of
Sudan's Committee for the Eradication of the Abduction of Women and
Children
(CEAWC). They were delivered to registration centers at Gok Machar and
Warawar. The outstanding 273 slaves were liberated from Baggara Arab
cattle
camps by CSI-supported Arab-Dinka Peace Committees, and were documented by
CSI staff at Gok Machar and Waragany.
CSI is now providing food and survival kits to both groups of freed slaves,
and is helping local authorities reunite them with their families. Local
officials have also appealed to UNICEF and other aid agencies for help
with
the feeding and rehabilitation of returning slaves.
Slavery is a "crime against humanity" in international law. Most of the
returning slaves documented by CSI reported gross abuse by their Arab
Muslim
masters. Among the most widespread forms of abuse are beatings, death
threats, work without pay, forced Islamization and Arabization, and racial
and religious slurs. The majority of women and older girls said they were
raped or gang-raped while in bondage. A minority of the females claim they
were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) -a ritual that is the
cultural norm for Baggara Arab women.
While conditions for the liberation of Southern Sudanese slaves continue
to
improve - largely on account of the current peace process between the
Government of Sudan (GOS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) -
the capture and enslavement of Black women and children by
government-backed
Arab militias continues in Darfur, Northern Sudan.
In its report to the UN Secretary-General, dated 25 January, the
International Commission on Darfur accused Sudanese government troops of
committing "crimes against humanity" and other "war crimes" against Black
civilians in Darfur. Among the documented crimes are abduction,
enslavement,
rape and murder.
CSI welcomes the Commission's findings and endorses the recommendation to
bring to justice - before an international tribunal - those Sudanese
government officials, soldiers and militiamen who are responsible for
slavery and other related crimes against humanity.
CSI also urges the U.S. government - which has invested so heavily in the
GOS-SPLA peace process - to establish a Task Force to Monitor the
Eradication of Slavery in Sudan, within either the State Department's
Office
of War Crimes Issues or the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons.
The irreversible eradication of slavery is a precondition for sustainable
peace in Sudan. Tens of thousands of Black Sudanese women and children
remain enslaved in Sudan - mainly in Darfur and neighboring Kordofan -
notwithstanding the peace agreement signed by the GOS and SPLA on 9
January
in Nairobi.
Christian Solidarity International (CSI)
February 3, 2005
International Headquarters
Zelglistrasse 64
P.O. Box 70
8122 Binz, Zurich
E-Mail. csi-int@csi-int.org |
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