Sudan Selective world conscience
The conscience of the international community has been taken aback by the genocide against the Muslims of Darfur. Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir has been accused before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. However, the enslavement of thousands of Christians by Khartoum’s Islamic fundamentalist regime is still not an issue of contention.
1989 was the year in which the Iron Curtain in the midst of Europe was lifted and freedom and democracy triumphed over the Communist dictatorships there. While decades of human rights violations and violations of religious freedom finally came to an end, for the most part without bloodshed, an Islamic fundamentalist dictator began his bloody rule in Sudan that very year. He is already responsible for the deaths of over two million people as well as for the eviction of a further four million from their homes.
‘Mass murderer’ Bashir On July 14, 2008, the Chief Prosecutor at the International Court of Justice, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued an arrest warrant against Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. He accuses the 64-year-old dictator of genocide and crimes against humanity. The allegations are based on the massacres time and again taking place in Darfur and perpetrated by Bashir’s troops. Within the last five years, they have claimed the lives of 300,000 mainly Muslim tribal inhabitants. It is the first time ever that the International Court of Justice in The Hague in Holland, founded in 2002, has placed the responsibility for committed atrocities on an incumbent head of state.
Slavery ignored
The accusations of Chief Prosecutor Ocampo, which must first be examined by a body of judges, exclude the countless war crimes in Southern Sudan, which the dictator had been guilty of committing prior to the signing of a Peace Agreement three years ago thanks to pressure from the US. Among these war crimes, it is worth mentioning military attacks on refugee camps and hospitals, the bombardment of war victims waiting for the distribution of food rations, mass rape and the systematic abduction and enslavement of hundreds of thousands of women and children.
Free after 20 years
Some of these abductees, of whom many are Christian, have had to wait for 20 years in order to attain their freedom, and tens of thousands continue to live in manumission. At the beginning of July 2008, CSI could again liberate 102 slaves. We came across 50-year-old Bakhita Abuk Luol, who for 24 years had been in the clutches of her master, Adam Musa.
Under the custody of Musa and his two Arab wives, Alima and Hanan, she had to endure hell on earth. The rage of the two women at Adam’s accepting a “third wife” into his harem knew no bounds. As a Christian, Bakhita was viewed as an “infidel”. Although, on the one hand, successfully resisting all attempts at circumcising her, she nonetheless bore Adam a daughter. Bakhita showed us the scars of the bites in her upper arm which she had received from one of her master’s two envious Muslim wives.
Twenty-year-old Majok Arol Deng reported about how Arab assailants killed two of his friends for resisting captivity during a slave raid. They simply slit their throats open. Majok’s owner, Ibrahim, ordered the youth to participate in the ritual prayer sessions; any mistakes or the refusal to do so would bring about inhuman punishment. One time, Ibrahim took a glowing wooden stake out of the fire and started to strike at Majok. We were shocked to see the badly healed burn scars on Majok’s body.
Grateful chief
During the slave-redemption trip carried out in July 2008, which led to Majok’s freedom, a dignified elder man, whose face was full of wrikles and who wore a large cowboy hat, was present: Paramount Chief Kong, the highest local chief in Wunlang. He expressed his great gratitude for what CSI had achieved. “Your work is just marvellous”, he said. “Please bring back more of our people. We had almost lost hope of ever seeing them again. We are so thankful to you for having undertaken the arduous trip now, during the rainy season, in order to save our enslaved citizens. May God bless you abundantly for all that you have done.”
We are now forwarding this plea to you, dear CSI-supporters. Thanks to you, we can give soon give back more slaves their freedom.
