In the end of July, our partners from Christian Solidarity International returned from their latest slave liberation mission in Sudan.
July 30, 2010
Separated for nearly a yearly one year, freed slave Abuk Kiir is overjoyed to be reunited with her two missing children, Garang and Akoor. Five-year-old Garang and eight-year-old Akoor were just two of 305 Black African slaves who were liberated from Northern Sudanese masters this month and repatriated to Southern Sudan by CSI-supported slave retrievers.
Abuk, together with her infant Ajong, was freed from last March, but without Garang and Akoor. Last year, their master had separated the older children from their mother to prevent the whole family from running away. Abuk only agreed to return to Southern Sudan with the retriever Adam Musa on condition of a promise that he would search for Garang and Akoor and bring them back to her. The retriever fulfilled his promise.
Abuk was enslaved by government-sponsored Arab militias during Sudan’s most recent North-South civil war (1983-2005). While in captivity, she was branded on her face, and was frequently beaten, raped and verbally abused.
While separated from their mother, Garang and Akoor were forced by their master, Abdelgasim, to look after goats in a remote cattle camp.
Nyanut Aruop was not as fortunate as Abuk Kiir. She was also released from bondage last March, but her three children – all fathered my her master, Mohammed Issa – were taken away from her and remain enslaved in Northern Sudan. Nyanut’s hopes for the recovering her children are pinned on CSI.
Eight years ago, the U.S. government responded to CSI’s anti-slavery campaign by constitution the International Eminent Persons Group to investigate slavery, abduction and forced servitude in Sudan. Their report called on the President of Sudan, Omer el-Bashir “to take the lead in launching an anti-slavery campaign, including:
- Presidential appeals for the immediate release of all such victims, an announcement of the government’s intent to prosecute persons who commit these abuses.
- The enactment of new criminal legislation and military regulations.
- The provision of greater resources and support to programs to trace and return victims.
Nearly six years after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, these recommendations of the Eminent Persons Group remain unfulfilled.
The CEO of Christian Solidarity International (CSI-USA), Dr. John Eibner, urges President Barack Obama and Special Envoy for Sudan, Gen. Scott Gration, to maintain continuity with the policy of their predecessors by restoring the eradication of slavery in Sudan to the agenda of the U.S. government.
“The stubborn persistence of slavery in Sudan, and the culture of racism and religious bigotry that underpins this evil institution”, Eibner states, “blights the prospects of peaceful relations between the North and the South as the war-torn country approaches the referendum on Southern independence in January 2011.”
Christian Solidarity International (CSI-USA)
870 Hampshire Road, Suite T, Westlake Village, CA 91361
(805)777 7107 – tel; (805) 777 7508 – fax