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| Contemporary Slavery in Sudan | |||||||||||||||||
| 2 May 2000 | |||||||||||||||||
| Slavery, an institution rightly reviled by most Americans but still able to haunt race relations today, has recently made a different appearance in the press. In 1996, Boston Sun reporters took up a challenge from Louis Farrakhan, who had insisted that slavery does not exist in Sudan. The two reporters were able to buy the freedom of two young slave boys, who were returned to their father.[1] This led to an inundation of newspaper accounts, government sanctions, and somewhat questionable intervention by human rights organizations. | |||||||||||||||||
| In pre-colonial Sudan, the Muslim Baggaras enslaved the Dinkas. Though the British virtually ended slavery in Sudan by 1920, the Baggaras returned to their enslaving activities upon Sudan's independence in 1956 and the ensuing civil wars.[2] In 1989, the National Islamic Front obtained power and declared a jihad (holy war) on the infidels who did not adhere to Muslim doctrine.[3] Since then, human rights organizations have reported that Sudanese army officers have been involved in the slave trade.[4] In fact, there is evidence that some officers have taken slaves for themselves as their booty in the war.[5] There have been reports that Sudan's dictator, General Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir, has four slaves in his home.[6] | |||||||||||||||||
| A lawyer from Sudan said that the government tries to convert the slaves into Muslims to increase the amount of people willing to fight for Allah.[7] He also said that the slaves are used as a "living blood bank for northern soldiers;" after a large battle, the slaves are rounded up and bled to provide much-needed donations of blood.[8] | |||||||||||||||||
| Both the New Sudan Council of Churches and UNICEF have reported that slavery is not limited to the north, however.[9] Though not used as an "institutionalized tool of war," slavery occurs sporadically in the south, among the very Christians and animists that are often enslaved by the Muslims.[10] | |||||||||||||||||
| There appears to be a relationship between the relief aid distributed throughout Sudan and the slave raids, where rogue horsemen round up unsuspecting villagers. Relief planes must have the permission of the Sudan government before embarking on a flight, so that the raiders, who are often given weapons and supplies by the government, know in advance where aid shipments will be sent. "Khartoum-backed raiders often arrive in time to seize the shipment and enslave enough locals to carry it."[11] | |||||||||||||||||
| According to Christianity Today, the raiders "burn homes, steal food, destroy crops, and slay animals and men.... The slaves are often beaten, starved, given Arabic names, and forced to recite Muslim prayers."[12] Two Arab scholars, Suleyman Ali Baldo and Ushari Ahmad Mahmud have documented the following account of an attack on the town of El Deien:� | |||||||||||||||||
| Arab militias stormed the village on horses and in trucks. They entered the church where the terror-stricken congregants huddled, and attacked them with hatchets, clubs, knives, and guns, beating and shooting people to death. The panicked survivors were convinced by Arab elders that they would be escorted out of town to safety. Lured onto rail cars that were later set afire, people were either burned, shot, or captured as slaves.[13] | |||||||||||||||||
| As slavery has become more widespread, both the raiding parties and the number of slaves they capture have grown in size. Erib Gaetano, a statistician for the Sudanese Relief and Rehabilitation Association, said that slave raids have grown in frequency since 1995.[14] Steven Wondu of the rebel Sudanese People's Liberation Army estimates there are currently 20,000 people enslaved in Sudan.[15] The president of World Relief, Clive Calver, says that 50,000 people live under the threat of slavery.[16] The main threat posed to these people is the train route between Khartoum and Wau, which enables the raiders to move large numbers of people from the south to the north. Nearly all raids occur within a few hundred miles of this "train of death."[17] | |||||||||||||||||
| Once the raiders capture the slaves, they are often brutalized and branded below the eye with their owner's Arabic name. Slave markets have sprung up in government-controlled cities, such as Khartoum, Juba, and Wau.[18] After being sold, many of the women and children work as shepherds, water-carriers, and domestic helpers.[19] According to the London Observer, "some Sudanese Arabs export slaves to Libya, Chad, Mauritania, and the Gulf States."[20] | |||||||||||||||||
| Partly based on the religious elements involved in the slave trade, international Christian activist groups decided to get involved. The first of these was Christian Solidarity International. Led by John Eibner, the group started buying slaves in large quantities in the fall of 1995. The slaves were set free or returned to their families in the south.[21] | |||||||||||||||||
| CSI was inspired by the slave redemption methods already employed by villagers affected by the slave raiders. | |||||||||||||||||
| When CSI learned that families of the Dinka tribe were buying their children and women back from slavers whenever they could, Eibner helped negotiate a treaty between several Dinka communities and local Arab tribes. In exchange for being allowed to trade inDinka markets, Arabs would send people up north to retrieve Dinka slaves.[22] | |||||||||||||||||
| Though the original price for redeemed slaves was originally to be no more than fifty dollars a slave, CSI has paid as much as one hundred per slave.[23] Other non-profit groups have started their own slave redemption programs. Christian Freedom International, an offshoot of CSI, and the American Anti-Slavery Group have coordinated with CSI and the UN-based program Operation Lifeline Sudan to bring slaves and refugees from the war home to their families. These groups feel that they are justified in their actions for three reasons: "slave redemption draws public attention to the tragedy in Sudan; it chips away at the slave trade on person at a time; and it ends the personal suffering of slaves and their families."[24] | |||||||||||||||||
| The plight of the slaves in Sudan drew more national attention in America when the fifth grade class of Barbara Vogel at Highline Community School in Colorado began to raise money for slave redemption. The children sold lemonade, donated their allowances, and sold T-shirts to raise money. Within a year they had raised over $1,000; press coverage of their accomplishment and the ensuing donations from both the public and private sectors put their total well over $50,000.[25] | |||||||||||||||||
| But not everyone believes that slave redemption is the best way to eradicate slavery in Sudan. In fact, a strong contingent of human rights activists argues that CSI and their allies have begun to fuel the slave trade. Some Africans say that "Westerners are a large part of the problem; nearly everything the activists do makes matters worse."[26] In fact, one of the main players in the slave redemption process, CFI, halted their policy of buying back slaves after their president Jim Jacobsen realized the harm it was doing to the Sudanese slave trade. He says that the money being poured into slave redemption is being used to "buy more guns, to hire more people, and to abduct more innocent people."[27] Richard Miniter puts it this way: "Thanks to the redeemers, who treat [the slave traders] as business partners, traders are richer than ever and, indeed, enjoy a measure of legitimacy as the linchpin of the redemption chain."[28] UNICEF, one of the foremost leaders of human rights activism, deplored the program from its inception, saying, "the purchase of a human being is absolutely intolerable."[29] | |||||||||||||||||
| Many Sudanese have expressed their own disdain for slave redemption. For example, the official spokesman for the Akoch district government in Sudan stated, "It is common sense not to pay the men who kill your father and steal your brother, or they will return."[30] In a response to an article by Charles Jacobs, who heads of the American Anti-Slavery Group, Human Rights Researcher Jemera Rone pointed out that there were other concerns to be dealt with in Sudan besides slavery, namely torture, summary executions, and the lack of free speech and freedom of association.[31] | |||||||||||||||||
| With much dissension in the ranks of human rights activists, the response from government groups has been muffled at best. The Congressional Black Caucus finally expressed its opposition to slavery 1995.[32] On the other hand, Louis Farrakhan, leader of the United States' Nation of Islam, vocally supports the regime in Sudan,[33] which adamantly denies that slavery is taking place in the country at all.[34] When shown a videotape documenting the slave trade, the Sudan ambassador to the United States replied, "It cannot happen. That is contrary to the policy of the government."[35] Rainbow Coalition leader Jesse Jackson has yet to go on the record against slavery in Sudan .[36] | |||||||||||||||||
| There is little consensus over what should be done to halt the slave trade. The original Boston Sun reporters call for increased sanctions against Sudan and a UN monitoring team on slavery.[37] U.S. Rep. Donald Payne has requested provisions of arms for the rebel group in Sudan.[38] But nearly everyone agrees that for slavery to stop, the civil war in Sudan must end. | |||||||||||||||||
| [1] Stein, M.L. "Debunking a Myth: Baltimore Sun reporters accept Louis Farrakhan's challenge to prove slavery exists in Sudan; they buy and free two slaves," Editor & Publisher. 10 August 1996. | |||||||||||||||||
| [2]Miniter, Richard. "The False Promise of Slave Redemption," The Atlantic Monthly. July 1999. http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/99jul/9907sudanslaves.htm | |||||||||||||||||
| [3]Jacobs, Charles. "African Slavery,Still," Tikkun. July-August 1999. | |||||||||||||||||
| [4] Bhatia, Shyam. "A War's Human Booty," World Press Review. August 1995. | |||||||||||||||||
| [5] Jacobs. | |||||||||||||||||
| [6] Bhatia. | |||||||||||||||||
| [7] Bhatia. | |||||||||||||||||
| [8] Bhatia. | |||||||||||||||||
| [9]Gardner, Christine. "Slave Redemption," Christianity Today. 9 August 1999. http://www.christianityonline.com/ct/9T9/9T9029.html | |||||||||||||||||
| [10] Gardner. | |||||||||||||||||
| [11] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [12] Gardner. | |||||||||||||||||
| [13] Jacobs. | |||||||||||||||||
| [14] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [15] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [16] Gardner. | |||||||||||||||||
| [17] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [18] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [19] Bhatia. | |||||||||||||||||
| [20]Southgate, Minoo. "Slavery Ignored: Black Slavery in Sudan and Mauritania," National Review. 23 October 1995. | |||||||||||||||||
| [21] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [22] Jacobs. | |||||||||||||||||
| [23] Gardner. | |||||||||||||||||
| [24] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [25] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [26] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [27] Gardner. | |||||||||||||||||
| [28] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [29] Jacobs. | |||||||||||||||||
| [30] Miniter. | |||||||||||||||||
| [31]Rone, Jemera. "Response to Jacobs," Tikkun. July-August 1999. | |||||||||||||||||
| [32] Southgate. | |||||||||||||||||
| [33]Commonweal. "For Sale: People." Editorial, Commonweal. 17 January 1997. | |||||||||||||||||
| [34] Rone. | |||||||||||||||||
| [35]Commonweal. | |||||||||||||||||
| [36] Southgate. | |||||||||||||||||
| [37] Stein. | |||||||||||||||||
| [38] Southgate. | |||||||||||||||||