SHRO-Reports

The report is an oucome of a field visit by SHRO-Cairo Deputy President and SHRO-Cairo Secretary-General accompanied with representatives of the Christian Solidarity International and Canadain T.V. and Press.

Tribal Images - Kalid Kodi

The brutalities committed by Sudan Government against the Dinka People of Sudan in the Bahr al-Ghazal Region are crimes against humanity. They have to be investigated and prosecuted according to international law, as well as Sudan laws. The Dinka must be protected from genocide and enslavement in the immediate time as every day carries with it more acts of slavery and genocide for these innocent citizens.

SHRO-Cairo is one of many Sudanese civil society groups that strongly urge the International Community to condemn Sudan Government for Acts of slavery. We are asking for an immediate stoppage of this scourge with all appropriate measures to salvage the People of Sudan, in general, and the Dinka of Bahr al-Ghazal, in particular, from civil war, genocide, enslavement, and famine.

SHRO-CAIRO REPORT ON SLAVERY IN THE SUDAN

May-June, 1999

INTRODUCTION

The following report is the most recent fact-finding investigation ever conducted in Bahr Al-Ghazal Region on acts of slavery against the Dinka People of The Sudan at these closing years of the 20th century.

Accompanied with groups representing the CSI and Canadian t.v. and press specialists, SHRO-Cairo officials, Mr Abedon Agaw and Dr Hamoada Fathelrahman, produced to the whole world this highly verified document on the shameless and most savage acts of extrajudicial killing, enslavement of humans, rape of women, and abuses of children that will certainly shutter all readers in every part of the planet.

As SHRO-Cairo authenticated report clearly informs, the acts of these savage practices are directly planned and carried to the maximum by the existing Government of The Sudan whose army, PDFs, and recruits are actively involved in enslavement of the Dinka and criminal appropriation of their property.

The whole world must immediately launch an international campaign to force this government to abandon all acts of slavery, prosecute the wrong-doers, and protect the lives and property of the Dinka citizens of Sudan in the Bahr al-Ghazal Region as a very urgent and top-priority agenda.

It is high time that all United Nations treaty-bodies and specialized agencies collaborate with Sudan Friends from all nations, human rights organizations, Arab, African, Islamic, and Christian entities in a comprehensive plan to save the People of Sudan, in general, and the Dinka citizens of Sudan, in particular, from all acts of slavery and genocide.

SHRO-Cairo is grateful to the Sudanese citizens in Bahr al-Ghazal Region, especially the Sultans, Chiefs, women, and children of the Dinka people, and all of the other citizens in the Region whose cooperation brought about the facts investigated in this report. Special thanks are expressed to the CSI and the Canadian specialists who collaborated with SHRO-Cairo to uncover the serious situation our People are made to face in Bahr al-Ghazal.

THE REPORT

The Sudan Human Rights Organization (SHRO-Cairo) Deputy President, Mr Abedon Agaw, and Secretary-General, Dr Hamoada Fathelrahman, visited the Bahr al-Ghazal Region in Southern Sudan between the 17th and 22nd of May 1999 to explore the situation of human rights and to investigate accusations of acts of slavery in the Region.

SHRO-Cairo officers were accompanied with a group representing the Christian Solidarity International (CSI) and Canadian T.V. and Press. The Organization conducted many interviews with parties directly involved in slavery. These included citizens formerly enslaved, businessmen who participated in the family unions of these citizens, Suatans and Chiefs of the Region, officials of native administration, natives and members of families, citizens of the Arab inhabitants of the Region, and merchants from the North.

SHRO-Cairo was particularly interested in information it managed to collect directly from children and appropriately documented. The Organization concludes in the following facts:-

(*) Slavery is an old-centuries phenomenon which has been closely related with tribal feuds in the Region. Nonetheless, slavery became an issue of increasing concern as it has been largely expanded under the existing regime whose authorities are directly involved in slavery by both organizational and supervisory activities. The authorities recruited a number of Al-Misairiya and Al-Rizaygat people as part of the Popular Defense Forces (PDFs). Each conscript is provided with a hourse, a machine gun, and 50,000 pounds to raid the villages suspected by authorities as supporters of the SPLM/SPLA. The raiders are allowed to keep whoever is taken captive from the victimized citizens, in addition to cattle and other property as booty and loot of the regime's Holy War of Jihad.

(*) The authorities locate the villages and rural districts as targets for raiding to deprive SPLM/SPLA from peoples' support and terrorize the inhabitants who are further frustrated and compelled to abandon their land by the burning of their homes. The exercise of loot-and-burn tactics as implemented by village-raiding and air bombardment has actually translated the policies of the authorities to systematic acts of genocide.

(*) The Marahil, the name of aggressors according to the natives, include the conscripts in question, members of the PDFs, and members of the Sudanese Armed Forces. The citizens enslaved, their cattle, and other property whether captured by the three partners or individually are susequently moved to areas within the full jurisdiction of Sudanese authorities.

(*) The enslaved citizens are incarcerated with the other possessions in special areas under custody of disciplinary forces (the Army or the PDFs). These are places located at a walking distance of 5 to 7 hours from the invaded areas. In a later stage, the enslaved citizens are moved to al-Muglad and al-Mayram via voyages that take 6 to 9 days of travel. During these voyages, a large number of men with tightened hands and feet are beaten up on their heads with heavy sticks to death. Many youngsters are reserved for conscription, and the women are repeatedly raped by guards and men responsible for their movement. Every 9 or 10 citizens are tied together by a long rope.

(*) The enslaved citizens are sold to new masters who use the women without pay for farming, grazing, carrying water from wells to home, grounding sorghum, and performing sexual services to the satisfaction of slave-masters. The status of enslaved women is not changed even if they give birth to children. Their children are never treated in a way equal to childrern of the master's wives. The enslaved women and children are mostly renamed with Arabic names.

(*) The children are used for grazing, child care, and other domestic services in the market. The enslaved people are not allowed to mix up with each other. They sleep away from the master's family, most likely in the barn of animals or stores of the master.

(*) Some of the enslaved women are circumcised by midwives to be "clean" or to prepare them as concubines as a master's wife may wish. This same woman usually supervises over the circumcision process without any use of medical drugs. After circumcision, the enslaved woman suffers a strong bleeding. However, the sick woman is not permitted to rest from work after circumcision. All circumcised women are forced to work in the next day.

(*) Some enslaved citizens are resold to new masters in other cities of The Sudan to be used in grazing of Al-Kababish herds or for the private service of the master without pay. Some are sold

in Khartoum, the Capital of Sudan, or in al-Diain town.

(*) The efforts to free enslaved people used to take place in the past in accordance with agreements between Dinka and Arabs. The Dinka would pay one cow for an enslaved person. Because the Dinka cattle was gravely lost as a result of the civil war looting and the increase in the number of enslaved citizens, organizations such as the Christian Solidarity International (CSI) intervened to help freeing the enslaved people. The CSI pays US$50 for every person saved from enslavement.

(*) The reunion of the enslaved citizens with their families is mediated by merchants of the Misairiya and Rizaygat people. These businessmen collect the enslaved persons from Arab Chiefs who buy them from masters and deliver them to the mediating merchants. The merchants smuggle the enslaved citizens to the Dinka Sultan or Chiefs. The merchants keep receipts indicating the number of persons surrendered in order to collect the required ransom.

(*) The Dinka Sultan or Chiefs announce the names of the emancipated persons. A person's family will only restore the enslaved member if they bring the required cow to the Chiefs who continue, in fact, to take care of the person until the cows are surrendered to the mediating merchants. While kept under custody of the Sultan or Chief, families of the delivered citizens are allowed to visit them.

(*) The mediating merchants are considered trustworthy by both Dinka and Arab Chiefs who commit themselves to abide by their own agreements concerning the migration of Arabs into the Southern lands with their cattle in the drought seasons or the agreements on the freedom and protection of business. These treaties are based on society's cooperation apart from any political or administrative influences.

(*) Each merchant brings about the enslaved citizens as might have been earlier collected. The names are checked and ascertained according to the list provided by the Dinka Sultan or Chiefs. The dollars are received and the enslaved people are announced free citizens to join their families once again.

(*) The Dinka/Arab agreements, which are strongly supported by Al-Misairiya and Al-Rizaygat people, do not include all Arabs in the Region. The authorities make unrelenting attempts to move Arabs against the agreements. Some are recruited to take part in the raiding of the Dinka villages and rural areas.

(*) There is no reliable evidence that the purpose of enslavement is Islamization or Arabization. The masters who buy the enslaved citizens are concerned for the services they freely obtain without pay. If a master is interested in teaching Islam to an enslaved person, this is usually restricted to a great extent. Masters have no concern for Islamic education to the enslaved ones. This is limited to Arab names, circumcision, and Khalwa (religious school) education. This does not mean that the authorities do not abuse Islamic conceptions to continue slave-raiding activities or to recruit Arabs to fight the Dinka in the name of the Holy War of Jihad.

(*) The children born for masters of enslaved women are called Arab names. In some instances, they are degraded with epithets such as "al-Abeed" (the men slaves), "al-Ibaida (the woman slave), or al-Shiramita (the harlot). The fathers of the children ignore them for good. Contrarily, the Dinka continue to think of these children as Dinka children who ares ubsequently related to husbands of the women or they may be renamed with the name of the Sultan or master of the homestead. They are treated as Dinka people in origin.

(*) The Dinka, natives and Sultans, believe that the restoration of enslaved citizens to the status of free citizens in this way is highly required. They feel grateful for those who free their people or support them. The alternative is unabated acts of slavery, slave-masters abuses, and a continuous failure to stop air and slave raids.

Air Raids:

While interviewing people of the Region, SHRO-Cairo Deputy President and the Secretary-General saw remnants of the air bombardments that became part of society's awareness. Listening to the voices of flying aircrafts, the natives can easily differentiate reconnaissance planes from relief and bombardment fighters. Furthermore, they prepared ditches around their homes to protect their families from air raids. In Saturday the 15th of May, natives reported that the Sudanese authorities threw some relief aid by air. However, in Sunday the 16th of May, they bombarded the area with Antinov. Owen Atim Achor, a girl aged 9 years and 4 of her cows were killed, and Ring Deng Kair was hurt. The Antinov used 61 bombs in that raid. The natives' homes were saved, nonethless, because the bombing came in a line parallel to their location.

The authorities use primitive bombs to bombard the villages. These are loaded with nails and pieces of iron that spread in a range of one kilometer thus causing serious damage. Luckily, the bombing is processed from high distances thus the range of destruction is small.

Bahr al-Ghazal was bombarded several times in January, February 11th, and the last days of April 1999. It was bombarded 3 times when we were visiting the Region in May. The Sudanese authorities aim to intimidate the citizens, evacuate the Region from inhabitants, and stop relief aid. All this is certainly a genocide of civilians and their property.

Conclusions and Recommendations:

(*) SHRO-Cairo is firmly convinced that acts of slavery are widely practiced with direct support and enforcement by Sudanese authorities. Slavery is correlated with the concept of Holy War of Jihad as the authority believes.

(*) The process of freeing enslaved people is a popular operation that is founded on popular efforts and acceptance of citizens as the only solution available in the present time, until air raids are completely stopped, citizens are fully protected, and the authority is forced to abandon the ongoing policies.

(*) The raids are undertaken by a mixure of Misairiya and Rizaygat peoples. The Misairiya attack the Gogriyal area and the Rizaygat attack Awil. The raiders comprised a small section of Misairiya and Rizaygat. The majority of Misairiya and Rizaygat reject these practices and do resist them in many ways. But these good efforts are in need of further support.

(*) In this visit alone, 1387 enslaved citizes were made free. It was ascertained that a large number of people are still suffering enslavement. It is possible to save them the shame of slavery.

(*) SHRO-Cairo condemns in the strongest terms Sudan Government's involvement in acts of slavery and brigandage, the random air bombing, and the operations that aim to eradicate the Dinka People through acts of genocide and the denial of their right to peace and development.

(*) The Organization calls upon all organizations, governments, and institutions to take immediate measures to stop all acts of slavery and genocide. The Organization calls in particular upon the Arab and Islamic World to condemn these shameless practices against the fame of Arabs and Muslims, practices that only speak for those who practice or support them.

(*) SHRO-Cairo calls upon the United Nations bodies, the Arab League, and Organization of African Unity to make fact-finding committees to investigate the facts discovered beyond any doubt in this report. The Organization calls for the publication of these investigations and others in a wide scale in order to combat these horrific deeds.

(*) SHRO-Cairo calls for the implementation of the recommendations included in the Report of the Special Rapporteur to Session 55 of the UN Commission on Human Rights as indicated in Resolution E/CN.4/1999/38, pages 60-61 (enclosed).