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| Sudan:
The Politically Inconvenient Holocaust? The slave trade is alive: Swiss group says it freed 1,783 Sudanese slaves |
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Via The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada (Two separate postings) "...May the groans of the captives come before you; by the strength of your arm, preserve those condemned to die." (Psalm 79:11) SUDAN (April 1999) The FACTS: *1.9 million dead - (200,000 in 1998 alone); Why are Canadian businesses such as Talisman Energy Inc. in a profitable business partnership with the very government responsible for these atrocious acts? Why is the Canadian government allowing Canadian businesses to partner with governments which promote a slave trade, and commit acts of genocide? (Would they allow such partnerships with the Serbian government - which has committed far fewer atrocities?) Why is the international press virtually silent on the holocaust in Sudan? Why do so few Christians in the west know about the suffering church in Sudan? Why is there so little response? In less than three months time, the Sudan government stands to reap a windfall in petro dollars which many analysts predict will give that government the resources they need to carry out their "final solution" to the problem (read Christians) of Southern Sudan. Time is running out... * * * * After World War 2, and the genocide of 6 million Jews, the world community declared "NEVER AGAIN"! ...or was it "never again as long as its politically convenient"? There are solutions. There is a way out. It only takes the prayers and commitment of God's people! "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream". The slave trade is alive:Swiss group says it freed 1,783 Sudanese slaves For a number of years, The Voice of the Martyrs has been heavily involved in assisting the Christians of southern Sudan. The need is so great and Sudan is the largest country in Africa. While we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars there, we could never do it alone or touch every need. We are thankful that God has also raised up other organizations like CSI to help in remembering the plight of our brothers & sisters in Sudan. Rejoice with us as you read the following news article by Reuters (dated April 20, 1999 at 15:11:44) - Glenn Penner (The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada) GENEVA, April 20 (Reuters) - A Swiss-based human rights group said on Tuesday it had bought the freedom of 1,783 slaves in Sudan last week, mainly women and children ``captured as booty by the armed forces of the government of Sudan.'' Christian Solidarity International (CSI), a Zurich-based group, said it had paid the equivalent of $50 per slave in local currency to networks of Arab slave retrievers in the region of Bahr El Ghazal. CSI officials say the slave retrievers are independent of the government but pay money to the slave masters to win the slaves' freedom and escort them back to their villages. In all, CSI has redeemed 7,725 slaves since 1995, according to a statement from the group issued in Geneva on the sidelines of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. Sudan's Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail recently rejected assertions by an independent U.N. investigator, Leonardo Franco, that Khartoum allowed Arab tribesmen to seize civilians in the war-torn south and sell them as slaves. CSI said the slaves ``had been captured as booty by the armed forces of the Government of Sudan, in particular by the Popular Defense Force during raids on villages in the borderlands between northern and southern Sudan. ``The government of Sudan conducts such raids as an instrument of the jihad (Islamic holy war) it has consistently declared against the ethnic and religious minorities who resist its policies of forced Islamisation and Arabisation,'' it added. CSI also said that in interviews conducted during its fact-finding mission last week, the redeemed slaves ``confirmed a well-established pattern of severe physical and psychological torture, including exemplary executions, beatings, rape, female genital excision, forced conversion and unpaid labour.'' The group said it was committed to continuing its Slave Redemption Programme ``until such time as the international community creates more effective retrieval mechanisms.'' The U.N. Children's Fund has called for a phased end to slavery in Sudan, to be overseen by international monitors. *********************************** Items for Prayer 1. Praise God for the redemption of these slaves. Pray that they would be reunited with
their families. Pray, too, for their physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. For those of you who enjoying “surfing the Web” and want to keep up- to-date with developments in Sudan, we would recommend that you check out http://www.sudan.net/ on a regular basis. The Persecution & Prayer Alert *********** Dear Friends, The following urgent prayer request has come to us from our friend, Mel Middleton, the founder and president of Freedom Quest International, based out of Calgary, Alberta. We would ask our worldwide family of prayer supporters to heed Mel’s request for special prayer for Sudan and Canada’s financial involvement there. This is a very real concern and your prayers are needed. (Note: For those of you in the province of British Columbia, you will be interested to know that Mel will be speaking on Sudan at our conference in Abbotsford on June 26.) Glenn M. Penner The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada *********************************** URGENT PRAYER REQUEST! Dear Friends, We are kindly asking you to consider a matter of utmost importance for millions of people - many of them Christian brothers and sisters - who are facing death in the country of Sudan. Last year 200,000 of them died in a famine which was created, to a large extent, by the extreme Islamist regime in the north of the country. In the past 15 years, more than 1.9 million people have died from a civil war which has been described as a "jihad", or holy war by the government against the people of southern Sudan. This regime, we believe, is committing genocide. We are joined in our belief by many other highly regarded human rights groups, non-government organizations, and churches, including the Canadian Inter Church Coalition on Africa (ICCAF) which recently issued a comprehensive report entitled "Cries from the Heart, Who Will Stop the Genocide in Sudan?" Talisman Energy Inc., a Calgary based oil company is currently in a partnership agreement with this very regime in Sudan, to develop oil. The Sudan military is planning on using revenues generated from this partnership to obtain the weaponry they need to prosecute the war against their own people in southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains. The participation of Canadian oil companies is crucial to their strategy. This week, Talisman Energy Inc. is holding their annual shareholders' meeting in Calgary, and representatives from church and human rights groups will be there, along with members of the Sudanese refugee communities in Canada, to try to persuade Talisman to put a moratorium on the development of this oil until there is a just peace and an end to the Sudan conflict. If this does not happen, we believe that millions more Sudanese people will suffer death and displacement due to starvation and war, until the extremist goals of the Islamic government are achieved. Please find attached a summary of the current situation in the Sudan. We would request that you pray this Sunday - preferably during the morning worship service - petitioning God for the need for peace in Sudan, and an end to Talisman's support for this regime which so brutally treats its own people. We believe it will take a miracle from God to end the suffering in the Sudan. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Best regards, Mel Middleton Freedom Quest International, *********************************** The Persecution & Prayer Alert is a ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs, Canada. *********************************** IMPORTANT: All questions or comments concerning the Persecution & Prayer Alert should be sent to [email protected] Contact Person: Glenn Penner, Director of Development |
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