Christian Solidarity International (CSI) Visits Northern Bahr El Ghazal, Sudan

Focusing on slavery, including personal testimonies, and military mobilization

January 8-13, 1999 (Excerpts)

I. Objectives

To investigate further the institution of slavery and other human rights violations;
To redeem slaves whose destitute families have not the means to do so;
To deliver emergency consignments of medicines, seeds and food for famine victims;
To show concern for and express solidarity with victims of oppression regardless of creed or color, and to promote the principles contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

II. Personnel

John Eibner, CSI International Headquarters
Gunnar Wiebalck, CSI International Headquarters
Accompanied by Arthur Akuien Chol, Member of Executive Council of the SPLA/M and former head of the SRRA, and independent journalists

III. Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of this CSI visit through many expressions of kindness and generosity. Without the support of donors, especially those working through the various CSI national branches, the S.T.O.P. Campaign of American school children, the American Anti-Slavery Group, the Canadian-based Slave Redemption Project, and the Confessing Church Movement in Germany, this visit would not have been possible. Similarly, we would not have been able to undertake such mission were it not for the full co-operation of many Sudanese who are making great sacrifices to defend their lives, their land and their people from the horrors of the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime's war of genocide.

IV. Main Findings

SLAVERY On this visit, CSI continued its ongoing Slave Redemption Program and its investigation into the revival of slavery in Sudan. On this visit, a further 1,050 slaves were redeemed. Since October 1995, 5,066 slaves, most of whom are women and children, have been redeemed and returned to their native communities. (Please see the appendix for further details about the pattern of slavery in Sudan and how CSI's Slave Redemption Program functions.) We selected at random some of the redeemed slaves for interviews.

Ajok Mawien Chan, young mother:

I was visiting my younger sister's home near Warawar when I was captured. It happened two years ago during the dry season. The soldiers came early in the morning. Everyone was asleep. My sister (Achol Mawien Chan) and I woke up with the sound of gunfire. We ran out of her tukul as fast as we could. But we did not get very far. We were surrounded. There were a lot of Arab soldiers all around us. Some wore uniforms, others wore jellabeyas. They had come at night on camels and horses. Six soldiers grabbed me. I struggled with them and tried to get away. But they beat me with a big stick. I had to submit. You can see the scar on my back (scar visible). I got that wound during the beating.

They tied my hand together with a rope and led me away to the bush. They raped me in the bush, one after the other, all six of them. After that, I had to walk beyond the River Kiir with the other slaves. My hands were tied to a long rope. My sister was tied to it too. Along the way we were beaten and raped. We walked for four days. Then we reached a place where the soldiers divided us and the cows and goats amongst themselves.

I was given to Musa. My sister was given to a man named Ibrahim. Musa was a good friend of the leader of the raiders, Mahmoud Issa from Zeri (near Meiram). Musa had a body guard and was responsible for distributing slaves and cattle amongst the PDF. This meant that he was away from home a lot. Musa took me to his home in Gos. I had to do housework for his wife. She is an Arab woman named Howah. She is a very bad woman. She always loved to hit me with a big stick, even when I was ill. She made me sleep outside in the courtyard. There was no shelter over my head. Only when it rained did she let me sleep in the covered cattle pen. Sometimes Musa would come to me at night, and take me to the cattle pen for sex. Whenever Howah discovered that her husband was missing at night, she would give me a good beating on the next day because her husband had come to me and not to her.

I had Musa's baby. He is now seven months old. Musa called him Ahmed, but I call him Thiop. Musa called me Howah, so he had two Howahs. The worst part about being with Musa and Howah were their threats to kill me. Whenever they told me to get water from a far place, or do some other hard labor, they would say that they would cut my throat if I didn't obey. Musa would threaten me like this when he wanted to have sex with me. My sister's throat was cut by her master. Howah's children told me they saw her body when they were going to the well. They said she had tried to escape, but was caught.

My sister had a very strong will. I remember that she always showed displeasure when the soldiers called her Fatima during the walk to the North. I was so afraid, I thought I have to get away from there. I knew that Musa loved Thiop and would never let him go, so I wanted to escape with him. One day, I was told by a woman who was cultivating in the fields that a trader was looking for slaves to return to their homes. I decided to escape and ran with Thiop to the forest. There I came across a Dinka man who took care of me and helped me find the trader. He brought me back here. I like being back, and hearing my own name again. I also like it because none calls me 'abid' (slave) or 'jongei' (nigger) anymore. I am so grateful to you, the trade people who helped you get me back to my own people. Now I will go to Warawar to try to find my children and my father.

Abuk Deng Akuei is a Christian girl in her early teens. She is the granddaughter of one of the great chiefs of Bahr El Ghazal and the half sister of the former Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Aldo Ajou Deng. She was enslaved two years ago during a PDF raid on her village of Bac, near Warawar:

My master was called Mohammed. I never heard he rest of his name. He lives in Aliet. He had eight other slaves. One of them, was Adut Tong, a woman from Warawar. He and his wife, Howeya, called me Miriam, and made me do everything like a Muslim, Howeya was an unkind woman. I had to do all kinds of work in their home. During the rainy season, I also had to do a lot of cultivation. Mohammed often beat me. He also raped me many times. I had to sleep outside with the cows and the goats. He would come outside at night and have intercourse with me. Whenever I resisted, I got a bad beating. Mohammed and Howeya wanted me to be a Muslim woman, so they forced me to have my genitals cut (genital excision).. A man did it. I don't know who he was. He tied my hands and legs down very tightly. You can still see the marks (scars on wrists visible). It was so painful. I cried and cried. That was the worst thing they did to me. I am so happy to be here now. I will go back to Warawar and Bac, and I will go back to church again. I can remember going to church in Warwar. The catechist there was Akuei Deng.

Mary Guer Francis Malek, 25 year-old widowed mother

I used to live in Aweil town. I was married to Michael Nyong Akol. He was a student there. I am a Christian. My husband and father were Christians too. I used to go to Church in Aweil. The priest there was Fr. Matong. I was very happy when I was at church. We fled Aweil some years ago when there was insecurity in the town. We went to Marin village and survived by farming. In Marin, I had three children. Their names are Nyibol, Akon and Abol. I was five months pregnant when the soldiers came and caught me. It happened when the train came to Wedweil last summer (June 1998). I tried to run away, but they threatened to shoot me dead. I obeyed and stopped running. Five soldiers grabbed me. I did not struggle with them. They then tried to tie me to a rope. I refused to cooperate, so they threw me down on the ground and beat me. I almost had a miscarriage. I knew because I started to bleed from the womb. After the beating, I could not walk, and was put on a horse. They took me to their camp near Wedweil, and put me in a big pen with a lot of other people. I spent two days in the pen.

Then, everyone had to start walking to the North, together with the cattle. I was still not able to walk, so they again put me on one of the horses. It took us many days to get to Matarik. We were all divided up there. I was given to Mahmoud Abdullah. He called me Zeneib, and took me to his home. It was nearby in Matarik. He is a trader there. In his shop, he sells sugar, grain, soap and things like that. I had to clean his house, wash clothes, cook and fetch water with the donkey. Mahmoud had four boy slaves to look after his cattle. Their names are Yel Ngor Akol, Aciek Kuol Tong, Dut Angok Angok & Macol Chan Atak. Mahmoud has two Arab wives. They are Asha and Kadija. They were kind to me. They gave me clothes to wear. But Mahmoud was very unkind. Whenever he was unhappy with me, he would beat me. Once he wanted me to go to the Koranic school and cook for the boys there, but I refused to do it because I am a Christian. He did not force me to go there. One day the trader Ibrahim came and took me and my baby (Anyien) to the forest and then brought us back here. I am very happy to be back here. I thank everyone who helped me come back. I am sure I will be even happier when I find my husband and children. I will now return to my village and look for them.

Marco Atak Kuac Kuac, mature teenage boy from Majok Akon

I was captured three years ago at the beginning of the dry season. I was caught in Marim. I had gone there to visit my aunt. When the Arabs came, I tried to run away. But I was surrounded. About eight men grabbed me. They all wore uniforms. They tied my hands to a long rope. Other people were tied to it too. Then they took us to the train station at the bridge over the River Lol. This station is between Ariath and Wedweil. The soldiers put us in the cars of a train. There were about 28 people in my car. We had to stay inside the car for four days. They only let us out at night for a short time when they gave us food. After we were finished with our food, they put us back inside. It was very hot and dirty in there. The train was then on its way to the North from Wau. When it was ready to leave the station, we were taken out, and had to walk to the North. I was tied up, like before, for the walk.

On the way, I had to carry a sack of durrah, and was beaten by the soldiers. It took us eight days before we reached Daein. We were divided up there. The one who organized it was Mohammed Abdullah. He was the leader of the Popular Defense Force (PDF). He gave me to Jima Mahmoud. He was one of the soldiers who caught me. Jima Mahmoud took me to his home. He lives in Daein town. Life was very hard with Jima and his wife (Howah). They made me grind grain and look after their goats. Every night they tied my hands and legs together and put me in a small outhouse without windows. Jima had another slave. He called him Jima, but his real name is Garang Ngor Bol. He was also tied up and put in the outhouse. Were were able to speak Dinka secretly to each other in the outhouse. One day, Garang disappeared. Howah told me was sent to Khartoum. In the evenings, they made me go to the khalwa (koranic school). I had to memorize the Koran. Fekki (teacher) Bakhiet would beat me with a whip if I could not memorize well.

The khalwa was only for slaves. There were 15 of us, 12 boys and three girls. All of us were teenagers. We were not allowed to speak to each other in Dinka. The teacher said were now Mujahadeen and would be given guns and money, and would be sent to the South to fight against the Dinka who have no religion. He said the Dinka are not good people, and that he did not want them in the South anymore. I did not like the khalwa. I am a Christian. I used to go to church in Yargot. Sometimes Fr. Jervis would come and visit us. I was baptized and confirmed by him. (We had the sad duty of telling Marco that Fr. Jervis had died of a serious illness nearly one year ago.) I will go to church again when I get back home.

'Sudan' Achai Kuac Dut, 15 year-old girl from Marin, captured in June 1998

I was at home when the soldiers came. I heard guns, and started to run. Everyone else was running too. Some went in this direction, and others went that way. I ran to the forest, but I was caught by two soldiers. I had to walk to the River Kiir, and then on to Daein. They made me carry a sack of durah on my head. The journey was about tens days long. I was together with a lot of other girls. The soldiers would take them away for sexual intercourse. The leader of the soldiers, Musa, did this to me. On the way, Musa did not beat me, but he gave me hardly any food. Musa kept me for himself. He called me 'Sudan'. He took me to a camp for soldiers near Daein. Musa had a home in Daein town, but he never took me there. I had to stay at his home at the army camp. It was a place where soldier's marched and learned how to prepare their guns and to shoot. There were both Arabs and Dinkas there. I had to do housework for Musa. I could not leave the camp. Many times each day, he would say that he would shoot me or cut my throat if I tried to escape. I was very sad, and couldn't help crying. He would beat me when he caught me crying. Musa used me as a concubine. I am now about five months pregnant. Musa let me go away with the trader. I think he did this because I was so sad and tearful that he didn't want me any more. I am a Christian and used to go to church at Nyamlell. One of the catechists named Mario is my friend.

Santino Chan Dut, mature teenage boy from Amathec village

I was caught last Spring. My master was Abdullai Mohammed. He lives in Daein. I had to look after his cows and goats. Abdullai often beat me. He also sent me every night to the khalwa (koranic school). Sometimes the PDF came to the khalwa to recruit for the Mujahadeen. They said they would teach us to shoot guns and fight against the Dinka in rebel areas. They promised that I would get my own cows and goats if I did this. I refused to go with them. Because of this, Fekki Ibrahim beat me badly.

Abuk Deng Gau, girl in her mid-teens

I was captured in my home village Kur Awet near Warawar. It was early in 1997. We were suddenly surrounded by countless horsemen. A lot of my people were shot dead. The attackers who caught me were dressed in military uniforms. They raped me and many other girls. Our village was burned down completely. I lost my parents as well as my four brothers and two sisters in the attack. I don't know whether they are still alive. The attackers killed my uncle Alou Alou Deng right in front of me. We walked for about ten days, I had to carry a heavy load of sorghum grain. They had looted it from our stores. My master was Mahmoud Mahdi. I was mistreated terribly by him. I, together with 15 others, had to stay in an open pen near his house. He lived in Sidam. My master repeatedly raped me. Various other men who came at night also did this to me . I was given the name of Fatima. I was forced to pray the Islamic way, and now I can speak some Arabic. Slaves who tried to escape were immediately killed by my master. I saw the execution of some of them. When I was taken I had already heard some white people who help us to free our people. When I was brought back I knew it must have been you. One of my former neighbors has come here to take me back home.

Ajok Akot Arou, young mother from Warawar

I was caught in November 1994. As soon as we got information that the Murahaleen were coming, we hid in the bush. But they found us and killed many of our people, including three of my close relatives. I lost my virginity on that same day because the soldiers raped me. I was forced to walk all the way to the North. Some people who said that they couldn't walk any more were hit with sticks. Some who fell to the ground were shot dead. I had to carry a sewing machine. The raiders had looted it in Warawar. They sold it at the market in Tebun. My master was Adam Musa. He told us that we were slaves. I was repeatedly raped by him and others. As a result of this I have now 2 children from different men, Tong and Majok.

Ngor Mawien Akok, badly scarred boy from Bac, near Warawar

I was captured in 1996. Soldiers came to my village. Many people were killed in the attack, including my mother. She was shot dead. I ended up at the home of an Arab man called Mohammed. One day in the summer, about two years ago, my master's wife threw a pot of boiling water in my face. She did this because I was too weak to look after Mohammed's cattle. I received very little food in my master's home. My left eye gives me pain. I can't close it properly. I can hardly see with it any more. Other slaves in Mohammed's house were treated just the same.

Anyang Anei Acien, mother from Buor Akuei (Aweil East)

I was captured in April 1998. Several hundred Arab Murahaleen attacked our village in the afternoon. They came on horses and many wore army uniforms. My husband Garang Acuil Atany was at Warawar at the time of the attack. I don't know whether he is still alive. The attackers took myself, my children Acien Garang (7-years-old) and Garang Acuil (9-years-old,) and a son of my sister who happened to be with us at the time of the attack. I was pregnant at that time. The raiders ordered me to milk the stolen cattle on the way. I also had to lead the cattle with a stick and carried loot on my head at the same time. Some of the stolen children had to lead the goats. We were forced to march fast because the raiders feared that they would be attacked by our people from behind. We walked for 5 days until we reached Adeela. I thought that I would die on the way because I was totally exhausted. In Adeela we were divided. The two children stayed with me. I was given to an Arab by the name of Hamid. He ordered me to milk his cows. I thank God for those who have given money to pay for our return. It will be good to die in my own land. I am very happy now.

Abuk Mawien Kernyang, pre-teenage girl

I was captured together with Anyang Anei during the last dry season. All the girls were kept separate from the boys on our long walk. I had to lead the goats and was beaten on the way. The boys were beaten even more. Their legs were tied at night. We were given left-overs from slaughtered goats. I was taken to a man by the name of Hadi in a village called Adeela. Hadi treated me well and said he would give me in marriage to one of his sons one day. Hadi had many other slaves. I was not allowed to play with other children. I slept in the kitchen on a plastic sheet. My master didn't call me by my Dinka name, but instead called me Howah, I have no idea why. I refused to attend the mosque and was beaten for that. But they didn't send me there again. Hadi is a rich cattle owner and has a big house surrounded by a fence. His family ate three times per day. My job was to wash the plates and do other domestic work. I was given only left-overs to eat.

Yei Diing, boy in his early teens, from Mariam, near Akuem river

I was caught together with my mother Abuk Acueri Yei. It was three years ago at the beginning of the rainy season. I tried to run away when the attackers came. I damaged my eye while I was running away through the bush. My master was Abdullah. He lived in a village called Acharob. Abdullah gave me the hat which I still wear. He would become very angry with me if I ever took it off. He wanted me to become a Muslim. I was called Naim, and he sent me to a khalwa, together with other slaves. I rejected my new name and didn't like to visit the khalwa. Because of this, my master beat me severely and sent me to a cattle camp where I had to stay. Some of my master's other slaves who had been captured before me had to wear hats too. Some of them were recruited into Murahaleen army after spending some time at the khalwa. A man who had come to visit my master pierced my ears (green plastic parts stuck through both ears). He accused me of not listening properly to him. My mother was also released
today. She stayed with a different master and I only saw her again on my way back. One of the sub-chiefs told me that my father is around.

One of the redeemed slave women sprang to her feet with a baby in her arms just as we were ready to depart following the redemption. She wanted to act as the spokesman for all the redeemed slaves. She said: "We thank everyone who helped free us. When we came here, we were told we would be set free. But I wasn't really sure what would happen until you came today. Again, I thank you, and hope you can continue this work so that many more slaves will be able to go home."

A Witness to the Slave Trade

We met Mary Archangelo Bak Achol, a teacher from Gulu in Uganda who is married to a Dinka. She lived in the GOS garrison town of Aweil, where she worked as a teacher, from 1981 to January 1998. While in Aweil, she caught glimpses of the way slaves were treated when they were brought to the town by the PDF before being sent on to the North:

When the war started the train was accompanied by soldiers. On its way to the North, there were always three windowless iron wagons full of children. The children were locked inside such wagons. Some of these children had run away from their parents and had been arrested by the soldiers. Others had been taken by force in Aweil because they are needed as laborers. Still others are captured when the soldiers go out and destroy villages around Aweil Town. As a teacher, I met with many parents who were desperately trying to locate their children who had been transported away. Some of the children end up in Khartoum. Some are brainwashed to become soldiers. Others look after cattle or work in the fields.

A Reunion

We were able to visit the reunion of many redeemed slaves with their loved ones who had come to take them home. We followed one redeemed slave woman, Angath Yel Anei, back to the tukul in Malwal Akon where her husband, Mel Wek Jonguel, now lives. They had not seen each other for years. Angath brought with her a baby girl named Aluat who is the child of her master. They were thrilled to see each other again. As they spoke with each other, Mel cuddled the new member of his family. Angath told us:

It took me 4 days to walk back. I didn't think that I would ever see my family again, but I hoped that God would give me my husband back. I don't want to go back to the North, even if I starve here. The worst thing that happened to me was being beaten and the raped by my master. This child is the result of the rape. I am eager to see my other children again. I thank all those who helped to free me. I would not have been able to return to Malwal Akon without you.

Mel said: "I didn't think I would ever see my wife again. But God was good. I work as a porter. I carry goods to Warawar. I hope I will be able to provide for my family."

The Arab Retrievers

After the redemptions, we spoke with the briefly with Arab retrievers about slavery and how to stop it Ahmed Bashir, Ibrahim Musa, Nur Mohammed El Hassan and Mohammed Ali Adam who had retrieved the slaves. They said:

We know many wealthy cattle owners who have hundreds of slaves. The only way to end slavery is to have a real elected government, and not this regime. All an elected Government has to do is order all slave owners to release their slave, and to jail them if they don't. It is the present Government that promotes slavery so that it can get Dinka children and turn them into Muslims and Mujahadeen.

More and more people in the North know about the work that you are doing to stop slavery. The Government does this by attacking you in the newspapers and on the radio, and by offering a 20 million Sudanese pounds bounty to anyone who can catch us. This publicity is making more and more people ashamed of having slaves. They are worried that when the Umma Party comes to power, they will be seen to have slaves and have to release them. A democratic government would not give people financial incentives to release their slaves.

The Government is trying to stop us by telling people that if they catch those who are returning slaves, they will get a 20 million Sudanese pound bounty. They are also using the security apparatus to try to stop us. But we know how to avoid contact with them. They also spread propaganda against you in the press. They would kill you, if they caught you.

On a light note, Ahmed Bashir joked about his identity problems he and other Rizeiqat and Misiriyah Arabs have on account of having mixed blood. He said: "In Southern Sudan I am called an Arab. In Khartoum, I am called a Southerner, and in the eyes of Arabs from the Gulf states I am a nigger."

Conclusions

We present here our full set of conclusions, which are drawn from this and over 25 other CSI Sudan fact-finding visits since 1992:

The NIF regime is prosecuting a war of genocide within the context of what it calls a jihad as it strives to transform by force the ethnically and religiously diverse country into a totalitarian Islamist state, against the wishes of a vast majority of its population in both the North and the South. This jihad has had a devastating effect on the people of Sudan, especially on the religious and ethnic minorities of the South, the Nuba Mountains, the Southern Blue Nile and Kassala and Red Sea Provinces. In the southern war zone alone, over 1.9 million people, mainly Black African Christians and animists, have been killed and over 5 million have been forced to flee their homes out of a population of approximately 8 million people. The NIF attacks on civilian targets, be they military assaults or the creation of famine conditions and the denial of humanitarian aid, are intended to uproot ethnic and religious communities which resist its totalitarian policies, including forced Arabization and Islamization. The death, destruction and displacement has been so massive that the NIF stands in blatant contravention of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. (The Convention defines an act of genocide as any act, such as killing members of a group, deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and forcibly transferring children of a group to another group, which is committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial or religious group).
While the principal victim communities are black African, the overwhelming majority of Northern Arab Muslims are also victimized by the NIF, which represents no more than 10% of the Northern population. The leaders and grassroots activists of Sudan's Northern pro-democracy movement, be they real or imaginary, are killed, imprisoned and tortured in the NIF's infamous prisons and 'ghost houses' (detention centers). Citizens who are not NIF activists or collaborators suffer discrimination in employment, education, housing and social services.
The NIF persecutes Christians and other religious minorities, relegating them in legal terms to the status of dhimmis ('protected' peoples who do not have equal rights with Muslims) or kafir (infidels who are entirely outside the law). The NIF also persecutes the legitimate religious leaders of Sudan's Muslim communities, such as the leaders of the Ansar and Khatmiyya communities.
The raids for slaves are undertaken mainly by militias which are formed into PDF units and the regular army. They are accompanied by atrocities, such as murder, torture, rape, looting and the destruction of property. The main target area for these raids are the Dinka community of northern Bahr El Ghazal and the people of the Nuba Mts. The slave raids are just one of many instruments of war used by the NIF to uproot ethnic and religious communities which resist its totalitarian policies, including forced Islamization and Arabization.
The institution of chattel slavery continues on a large scale in NIF-controlled areas of Sudan, especially southern Darfur and southern Kordofan. This institution is defined in international law as a "crime against humanity". The number of chattel slaves is estimated to be in the tens of thousands. The black African slaves, in most cases women and children, are forced to provide domestic and agricultural labor and to provide sexual services against their will for nothing other than the minimum of food for survival. They are generally given Arab names and are often forced to observe Muslim rituals. Many of the female slaves are subjected to ritual genital mutilation. The slaves can be bought and sold.
The institution of state slavery also continues on a large scale in NIF-controlled areas of Sudan. Those held in this kind of bondage are taken to concentration camps, which the NIF calls 'peace camps'. There the children are forced to attend militant Koranic schools where they receive indoctrination in the ideology of jihad and where the women are abused and sent out to work as unpaid day laborers in private homes or on farms. Hundreds of thousands of Sudanese have been placed in such concentration camps. Women and children from the Nuba Mountains in southern Kordofan have suffered most from this kind of state enslavement. There is now evidence that the NIF is placing Dinkas captured in the Spring of this year in these camps.
The NIF's slave raiding in Bahr El Ghazal and the Nuba Mts. is complemented in other parts of Sudan, both North and South, by the abduction of women and children by the armed forces of the NIF, and their placement in concentration camps, militant Koranic schools and PDF camps.
The current famine in southern Sudan is largely man-made, and is used by the NIF as its most powerful weapon in its war of genocide.
Western donor states pay hundreds of millions of dollars, year after year, which go into the black hole of humanitarian aid for the Sudanese war victims, while investing little or nothing to enable the victimized communities to defend themselves.
The NIF continues to refuse access to the UN and to NGO's to enter many areas controlled and administered by the country's pro-democracy movement. Among the areas most severely affected by this policy are the Nuba Mts., the southern Blue Nile, the areas around Juba, and Kassala and the Red Sea Provinces.
The international community has, as a rule, accepted the NIF's veto on emergency humanitarian relief work, and has failed to devise alternative strategies, thereby leaving hundreds of thousands of people bereft of vital relief. Furthermore, relief supplied by western governments and churches is made available to radical Islamic agencies that work together with the NIF, and is distributed by these agencies on condition of conversion to Islam. As a result, western donors assist unwittingly the NIF as it prosecutes its genocidal jihad.
Human rights violations have been committed by all parties to the Sudanese civil war. All such human rights violations must be condemned. There is, however, a gross asymmetry, both in quantity and quality, with the NIF as the principal and most systematic violator of human rights. In the absence of any intervention by the international community, the SPLA is the only force defending the black African communities of southern Sudan, the Nuba Mts. and the Blue Nile against the NIF's war of genocide.