International Eminent Persons Group

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeremy Blume or Beth Bragg

“Eminent Persons” Report Condemns Sudanese Government for Slavery & Judeo-Christian Tradition of Redeeming Slaves

The revival of Black slavery and the Government of Sudan’s central role in perpetrating this internationally recognized “crime against humanity” was confirmed yesterday in the Report of the U.S.-led “International Eminent Persons Group” (IEPG) investigating slavery, abduction and forced servitude in Sudan.

ZURICH, Switzerland, May 23, 2002- Confirming the findings of Christian Solidarity International’s own extensive investigation of Sudanese slavery, the report states:

“The pattern of slave taking that has developed since the start of the civil war is, to a substantial degree, the product of a counter-insurgency strategy pursued by successive governments in Khartoum. This strategy involves arming local militias from northern Sudan. These militias attack villages in SPLA-controlled areas, principally along the boundary between northern and southern Sudan. They burn villages, loot cattle, rape and kill civilians, and abduct and enslave men, women, and children. Such attacks are frequently carried out by militia members while employed by the government as auxiliary guards on military rail convoys traveling though SPLA-controlled areas.”

The IEPG also confirmed other CSI findings: Government-sponsored slave raids against Black, non-Muslim communities in southern Sudan involve mujahadeen troops, and slaves are subjected to a process of “acculturation to the dominant culture in the north” –i.e., Islamization and Arabization.

The IEPG was unable to estimate the scale of Sudanese slavery. The Government of Sudan and its partners, Save the Children (U.K.) and UNICEF, estimate that between 10,000 – 17,000 people have been “abducted” (enslaved)

since the mid-1980’s. Dinka leaders in Southern Sudan estimate that over 200,000 of their people have been enslaved during that period. CSI believes the latter estimate is closer to reality than the former.

The Government of Sudan consistently denies that slavery exists in Sudan, although it does admit that “abduction” –a lesser offence in law–takes place. Sudan’s President, Gen. Omer Bashir denies his government’s responsibility for “abductions.”

Among the IEPG’s recommendations are: 1) The establishment of democracy and the rule of law in both northern and southern Sudan; 2) The development of a “policy framework” for the coordination of the activities of governmental and non-governmental bodies that are currently working on various aspects of the slavery problem; 3) The establishment of an international slavery monitoring group; 4) The prosecution in Sudanese courts of those guilty of slavery following an amnesty period.

The IEPG stopped short of recommending the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) to investigate and press charges of “crimes against humanity” against those responsible for the enslavement of Sudanese women and children. The ICT for Yugoslavia, now sitting in the Hague, has established a precedent for such prosecutions and convictions. Ex-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is currently on trial at the Hague because of his political responsibility for enslavement and other related crimes against humanity.

The IEPG took a hard line against the long-standing Judeo-Christian tradition of redeeming slaves, stating “no person holding another who has been abducted or enslaved should be paid to secure that person’s release.” The Black American abolitionist leader, Fredrick Douglass, was a redeemed slave as was Sudan’s St. Bakhita. The IEPG Report, however, left the door open to governments and non-governmental organizations to pay the Sudanese government, on certain conditions, for the release of slaves. The EU and UNICEF currently make such payments to the enslaving regime in Khartoum.

CSI President, Rev. Hans Stuckelberger, responded to the report, saying:

“CSI endorses IEPG’s findings on the role of the Sudanese government in the revival of slavery. However, the Group’s recommendations for ending slavery are flawed in so far as they can only be successfully implemented when democracy and the rule of law prevail in Sudan. Unfortunately, that outcome is far from certain. In the meantime, CSI will spare no effort to liberate slaves still in bondage. It would be unpardonable to leave women and children enslaved, subjected daily to unspeakable physical and psychological abuse, in the absence of functional alternative mechanisms.”

The IEPG, headed by former Deputy Director of the U.S. Information Agency Penn Kemble, was established early this year in the context of the Bush administration’s Sudan peace initiative led by former Sen. John Danforth. The eight members of the IEPG were appointed by the governments of the U.K., France, Norway, Italy and the U.S.A.