No return for Sudan's forgotten slaves

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Akech Arol Deng has not seen his wife and son since they were seized by Arab militias from their home in south Sudan 19 years ago.

His son, Deng, was just three years old at the time but Mr Arol is sure they are still alive, being used as slaves in the north.

"I miss them so much. I really hope that one day they come back," Mr Arol told the BBC News website mournfully in his home of Malualbai, just a few hours' on horseback from the Bahr el-Arab river which divides Muslim northern Sudan from the Christian and Animist south.

Some 8,000 people are believed to be living in slavery in Sudan, 200 years after Britain banned the Atlantic slave trade and 153 years after it also tried to abolish slavery in Sudan.

But rows about money mean no-one is doing anything to free them.

In the same year that Mr Arol's family was kidnapped, Arek Anyiel Deng, aged about 10, was seized from her home, not far from Malualbai.

Arab militias rode in to her village on horseback, firing their guns. When the adults fled, the children and cattle were rounded up and made to walk north for five days before they were divided between members of the raiding party.

Forced conversions

Ms Anyiel returned home under a government scheme last year.

"My abductor told me that I was his slave and I had to do all the work he told me to - fetching water and firewood, looking after animals and farming," she said.

"When I was 12, he said he wanted to sleep with me. I could not refuse because I was a slave, I had to do everything he wanted, or he could have killed me."

Such raids were a common feature of Sudan's 21-year north-south war, which ended in 2005.

The northern government is widely believed to have armed the Arab militias in order to terrorise the southern population and distract rebel forces from attacking government targets.

According to a study by the Kenya-based Rift Valley Institute, some 11,000 young boys and girls were seized and taken across the internal border - many to the states of South Darfur and West Kordofan.

The boys generally looked after cattle, while the girls mostly did domestic chores before being "married", often as young as 12.

Most were forcibly converted to Islam, given Muslim names and told not to speak their mother tongue.

War of words

Sudan's government has always rejected claims that people are living in slavery but admits that thousands were abducted during the war. It says this is an ancient tradition of hostage-taking by rival ethnic groups.

One senior government official strenuously denied there was any slavery in Sudan but bizarrely acknowledged: "It was the same as when people were taken from West Africa to America."

The United Nations defines slavery as: "The status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised."

Ms Anyiel and several others we spoke to certainly seemed to have been living in conditions of slavery - having been abducted, subjected to forced labour and often beaten.

To be able to work with the return programme the government set up in 1999 under intense international pressure, donors agreed to use the euphemism "abductee".

About 3,000 were taken back home before the programme ran out of money in 2005.

Donors pulled out, saying some were not genuine slaves, some had been returned against their will and had been left to fend for themselves in the desolate, under-developed south.

The government then funded the return for a while but strangely, the end of the war seems to have taken the urgency out of the project.

The governments in both north and the autonomous south seem more interested in spending their new oil wealth.

Officials from both administrations say they are still working out their new policy on the "abductee file".

Disillusioned

Ahmed Mufti from the government's Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC) says the Arab tribal leaders are now more than happy to release the "abductees" but his group does not have the $3m he estimates it would need to arrange transport and pay officials to organise the operation.

Faced with this lack of progress, James Aguer, the man at the forefront of the campaign to free Sudan's slaves, is becoming increasingly disillusioned after spending some 20 years risking his life for the cause.

"With peace, I thought they would be freed by now," he says bitterly.

He says he has the names and location of 8,000 people, who could easily be freed from the Arab cattle camps, as soon as the political will is there.

He says the true number of those being forced to work against their will without pay in Sudan is more than 200,000, although most donors believe that is an exaggeration.

Sitting on the dusty ground outside the abandoned mud hut where she and her five children now live, Ms Anyiel is delighted to have finally gained her freedom and to be able to make decisions about her own life.

But freedom is not necessarily easy - she now has to support the children on her own, with no assistance from donors or the government.

Her only income comes from collecting firewood in the bush to sell in the local market.

"It's like I was still in the camp, it's the same situation as in the north," she complains.

Tribal markings

Ghada Kachachi, from United Nations' children's agency Unicef, uses Ms Anyiel's case to explain why funding was stopped for CEAWC's return programme.

She says those who are freed must be helped when they get back home - both economically and socially, as they move from an Arabic society to the Dinka community some left 20 years ago.

But campaigners say the first priority must be to free them from slavery and then sort out the details of their return.

Ms Kachachi also points out that it can be difficult to trace the parents of children abducted in a war zone up to 20 years ago.

Some have forgotten their real names and where they come from, although they can sometimes be identified by the marks cut into their faces as children - a part of Dinka traditions.

Save the Children UK is still helping foster parents look after some children several years after they returned "home".

While officials debate the best way to organise the return, Mr Arol and many others are just desperate to see their loved ones again.

He has gone to meet four different convoys of returned abductees in the hope of being reunited with his family, only to be disappointed each time.

"I always ask God, why other children come back but not mine. What have I done to deserve this?" he asks.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6455365.stm

[Niels Bohr 72]

My wife was a victim of trafficking. She went to Thai in hope of finding a nice job that will make a decent living. But, she was tricked into working in a restaurant with no pay, and her passport was taken and kept by the owner. So, she has no way of returning back to Cambodia, and no income. She was forced to cook from 7a to 9p with no pay. Slaves still exist. That was before I met my wife. A friend of mine went there to rescue her out of the situation.

Edited March 19, 2007 by consolemaster

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

My wife was a victim of trafficking. She went to Thai in hope of finding a nice job that will make a decent living. But, she was tricked into working in a restaurant with no pay, and her passport was taken and kept by the owner. So, she has no way of returning back to Cambodia, and no income. She was forced to cook from 7a to 9p with no pay. Slaves still exist. That was before I met my wife. A friend of mine went there to rescue her out of the situation.

I'm glad things worked out.

[almaty 19]

wow, terrible...and just wrong

[Robor007 0]

How can ####### like this happen in 2007?

[mmarlo 1]

I knew something similar had happened fairly recently in Kenya, at least into the 1960s (through British colonial rule), but yeah, it's just terrible that this sort of thing can continue through to the present.

[Ta Ta 1]

May I add to that the abduction of thousands of children in Sierra Leone who were

drugged and forced to kill as child soldiers during the decade long war that only

ended a few years ago.

When visiting my fiance I saw these young kids just roaming the streets.

Some have been succesfully rehabilitated, some refuse to integrate again

due to the heavy brainwashing by rebels and just are not able to reconnect

to their famlies but wanted to remain with all they knew, their abusers.

Sad indeed.

Documentary film : Cry Freetown.

[mmarlo 1]

May I add to that the abduction of thousands of children in Sierra Leone who were

drugged and forced to kill as child soldiers during the decade long war that only

ended a few years ago.

When visiting my fiance I saw these young kids just roaming the streets.

Some have been succesfully rehabilitated, some refuse to integrate again

due to the heavy brainwashing by rebels and just are not able to reconnect

to their famlies but wanted to remain with all they knew, their abusers.

Sad indeed.

Documentary film : Cry Freetown.

Very good point. The same kind of thing has happened in Uganda. The incidence of child soldiers in conflicts around the world is alarming.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I'm glad I get to traveled around the globe instead of being couped up in the US. Ninety-five percent of world's population are outside the United States. We cannot achieve world peace instantaneously, but, what we can do is to spread the words and show people how realistic these occurring events are. I will rent that documentary to see for myself the horrors of human nature. Even if I can't do a single thing to help them, at least I understand their lives.

[mmb 0]

Slavery and trafficking happens all over the world including America.

Thankfully there are still abolitionists working hard in america today.

Not For Sale

[mmarlo 1]

Good point. A lot of illegal immigrant labor (and even some legal labor) in the US has been characterized as slave labor. I think I read something in an Amnesty International report about meat packing companies and pretty inhumane working conditions. Mind-boggling. Laborers unite!

[Niels Bohr 72]

When I was little, I had to work in Cranberry Farms in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I was around 14 years old then, and was getting paid $8/hour for 8 hours. Pay was always in cash, no checks. And, I was also working around 40 hours/week. This was only during the summer when school was out. Many of the people may say it's a horrible working environment picking up weeds from the crops all day under extreme temperatures for a child, but, you know what, I had to do it because my family was struggling financially. We lived in public housing at that time, and our income was based on governmental support.

Sometimes people need to do what they have to do to live in this world. I don't care how it is, without money, there's no food on the table. Yes, my parents may work, but, they don't understand English, they were old and were victims of the Khmer Rouge civil war in Cambodia. So, you have to see this on a case by case bases.

If somehow we permit families struggling to support their kids some way of making money above the poverty line. Or, make laws to provide children to work in areas where they're not vulnerable to harm or hazards in the US. Look at me now, I turn out to be well off. I am an engineer now. My patience and perserverence have gotten me this far.

Edited March 20, 2007 by consolemaster

[mmarlo 1]

When I was little, I had to work in Cranberry Farms in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I was around 14 years old then, and was getting paid $8/hour for 8 hours. Pay was always in cash, no checks. And, I was also working around 40 hours/week. This was only during the summer when school was out. Many of the people may say it's a horrible working environment picking up weeds from the crops all day under extreme temperatures for a child, but, you know what, I had to do it because my family was struggling financially. We lived in public housing at that time, and our income was based on governmental support.

Sometimes people need to do what they have to do to live in this world. I don't care how it is, without money, there's no food on the table. Yes, my parents may work, but, they don't understand English, they were old and were victims of the Khmer Rouge civil war in Cambodia. So, you have to see this on a case by case bases.

If somehow we permit families struggling to support their kids some way of making money above the poverty line. Or, make laws to provide children to work in areas where they're not vulnerable to harm or hazards in the US. Look at me now, I turn out to be well off. I am an engineer now. My patience and perserverence have gotten me this far.

Congratulations on working your way out of such hardships. This is one reason why America has sortof a mythical perception around the world--because it is possible here to work your way out of poverty, and there are many immigrant families that can be pointed to as examples. Unfortunately, it's more of a myth than reality, as on the whole social mobility in the US is very much overestimated. There were a series of NY Times articles on this topic last year or the year before. Very interesting, but sometimes deflating, stories.

Still, there is a big concern that workers in particularly vunerable positions, like you when you were a child (you had no choice), are exploited by those who employ them. (I'm not saying you were in your position, but others certainly are.) It doesn't mean that you are in the wrong for working for them, and it isn't bad that menial jobs are available for decent pay (although $8/hour is pretty good work for a 14-year-old if you can get it!), but you and other workers should be protected against exploitation (e.g., forced labor, extremely harsh conditions, too many hours, below-poverty-level rate pay rates). We have laws in place for this sort of thing, which are more or less successful depending on who you ask, but some companies target illegal immigrants precisely because they don't have such protections.

[William33 110]

The ugliness of our world is now being revealed openly. The things I have seen in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and other places, is heartbreaking.

I try to believe that I do my part, by giving from my heart, when I witness it. Money flows. Maybe that will help some, I really don't know.

We really should focus on other significant problems, beside our own.

[Ta Ta 1]

I'm glad I get to traveled around the globe instead of being couped up in the US. Ninety-five percent of world's population are outside the United States. We cannot achieve world peace instantaneously, but, what we can do is to spread the words and show people how realistic these occurring events are. I will rent that documentary to see for myself the horrors of human nature. Even if I can't do a single thing to help them, at least I understand their lives.

I don't think you will be able to rent it anywhere, I think the site is

www.cryfreetown.com or .org. You can buy several documentaries there.