Across Pacific & Asia


Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Tens of Thousands still in Slavery today

CATTLE CAMP ARABS PROMISE TO FREE SLAVES
AS MORE THAN 300 SUDANESE SLAVES ARE LIBERATED

By Michael Ireland

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (ANS) -- 336 Black Sudanese slaves were liberated between 23 March and 14 April through the mediation of the Arab-Dinka Peace Committees at Warawar and Manger Ater, Southern Sudan.

According to Christian Solidarity International (CSI), the freed slaves were registered at three checkpoints (Bac & Rumrol, Aweil East County, and Mayen Adhal, Aweil North County) before proceeding to their homes and families.

A press release from CSI received by ASSIST News Service (ANS) says registration was undertaken jointly by local representatives of CSI, the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the Church of Christ, the Government of Sudan's Committee for the Eradication of Women and Children (CEAWC) and the SPLM's Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (SRRC).

Preliminary analysis of interviews with 51 of the female slaves over the age of 11 indicate the following pattern of abuse:
  • 37% subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM).
  • 71% raped.
  • 51% forcibly converted to Islam from Christianity or a tribal faith.
  • 98% subjected to racial insults.
  • 100% physically abused.
  • 100% forced to work without pay.

CSI gave returning slaves grain rations and survival kits, including a cooking pot, mosquito net, plastic sheeting, a water container, a sickle and fishing hooks.

"At a US government-funded Arab-Dinka peace conference in Nyamlell, Southern Sudan on April 7-9, Arab cattle camp leaders pledged to free their remaining Dinka slaves. A conference resolution called on CSI to assist newly formed Arab-Dinka committees to locate and liberate slaves from Arab cattle camps," the release says.

Conference host, Chief Dut Majak Majak of Nyamlell, thanked CSI for promoting peace between Arabs and Dinkas for the past ten years. He also observed that all Dinkas attending the conference had relatives who had been freed from enslavement by CSI.

Dr. John Eibner pledged CSI's continuing support for Arab-Dinka efforts to abolish slavery in Sudan. He also warned that unless the enslavement of Black Africans is rapidly eradicated in Darfur and other parts of Northern Sudan a comprehensive and lasting peace for the war torn country will remain elusive.

In September 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush identified the eradication of slavery as a paramount goal of his administration's Sudan peace initiative.

Conservative estimates place the number of Black Sudanese slaves in the tens of thousands. The Report of the UN's Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, dated January 25, 2005, confirmed that the armed forces of the Government of Sudan and allied militias are committing "crimes against humanity" in Darfur, including slavery and the sexual abuse of women.

At the beginning of February, the Sudanese government suspended the repatriation of freed slaves to Southern Sudan in response to criticism from UNICEF. Southern Sudanese community leaders have called for its immediate resumption.


Direct inquiries to:
Christian Solidarity International Headquarters
Switzerland
Tel: +41 44 982 3333
Fax: +41 44 982 3334
Email: csi-int@csi-int.ch

www.iAbolish.com
Contact: Liora Kasten, 617-426-8161

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Garden Grove, CA. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in Sept., 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station.


ASSIST News Service (ANS) -  www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com




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