[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 74 (Friday, June 7, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1002-E1003]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 REPORT CONFIRMS SUDAN'S USE OF SLAVERY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, June 6, 2002

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I want to share with you the findings from the 
report of the International Eminent Persons Group that was created out 
of the agreements negotiated by special envoy for Sudan, former Senator 
John Danforth. This group was invited to Sudan by both parties to the 
conflict in Sudan, the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's 
Liberation Army, to investigate the occurrence of slavery and abduction 
there.
  The report indicates that the group found sufficient evidence during 
its investigation that the Government of Sudan uses slavery as a part 
of a ``counter-insurgency strategy pursued by successive governments in 
Khartoum.''
  These actions include incidences of abduction and associated abuses 
that occur in conjunction with attacks by pro-govemment militias known 
as murahaleen on villages in SPLA-controlled areas . . . the Government 
of Sudan and its predecessors have been responsible for arming 
murahaleen groups, for using them as auxiliary military forces and for 
allowing members of such forces to enjoy impunity for a wide range of 
serious crimes committed in the course of attacks. They bum villages, 
loot cattle, rape and kill civilians, and abduct and enslave men, women 
and children.
  As this report shows, the government in Khartoum has used slavery as 
a strategy and as a weapon for years. It is time for Khartoum to end 
this horrible practice and for the world to condemn Khartoum for this 
atrocity.
  As the Bush Administration and the international community press for 
peace in Sudan, ending the form of slavery practiced by Sudan needs to 
be at the forefront of the discussions.

                                Findings

       Finding 1. Changes in the international environment and 
     within Sudan itself have raised hopes for progress toward 
     peace in Sudan.
       Finding 2. The United States, other concerned governments 
     and international institutions should engage this possibility 
     with energy on the one hand and rigorous conditionality on 
     the other. Progress in dealing with human rights abuses is a 
     key element in the establishment of a just and durable peace 
     in Sudan.
       Finding 3. Many observers note an improved political 
     climate in Khartoum, characterized by a renewed dialogue 
     among political parties and the return of representatives of 
     some northern political parties to Khartoum. The Sudanese 
     Government's acceptance of, and cooperation with, the mission 
     of Senator John Danforth, and with our own mission, may be 
     regarded as reflections of this change. Recent initiatives by 
     the SPLM/A to encourage the institutions of civil society are 
     also examples of favorable political developments.
       Finding 4. Despite these positive signs, the people of 
     Sudan continue to be subjected to a range of serious and 
     sustained human-rights-abuses. These abuses have been 
     extensively documented in numerous human rights reports, 
     including those of Human Rights Watch, Anti-Slavery 
     International, the Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on 
     Human Rights on Sudan and other credible observers. They 
     include denial of rights of expression and association, 
     restrictions on press freedom, harassment of certain 
     opposition political groups and independent religious bodies, 
     arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel and unusual punishment 
     and arbitrary interpretation and application of laws.
       Particularly serious abuses have occurred in connection 
     with the current civil war. To one degree or another, all of 
     the warring parties have engaged in such practices as the 
     forced displacement of civilian populations, intentional 
     attacks on civilians, abductions, the forcible recruitment of 
     children and other civilians as soldiers and forced laborers, 
     hostage taking, rape, looting, destruction of food supplies 
     and the denial of access to humanitarian assistance. Women 
     and children have suffered especially, both from abduction 
     and sexual violence. All these practices are prohibited by 
     international covenants and conventions.
       The causes of these abuses are far-reaching and complex and 
     must be understood and addressed as a whole.
       Finding 5. Our Group's mandate called upon us specifically 
     to examine slavery, abduction and forced servitude. We found 
     a wide range of economic relationships between northerners 
     and persons from the south who have either been displaced or 
     have migrated to the north. Such relationships range from 
     debt bondage to benign relations of sponsorship or adoption. 
     The majority of these relations, while they may involve 
     economic exploitation, do not fall under the rubric of 
     slavery. However, we also found evidence of exploitative and 
     abusive relationships that, in some cases, do meet the 
     definition of slavery as contained in international 
     conventions, which Sudan has signed. This evidence is 
     confirmed in interviews conducted by the Group, which is 
     consistent with reports and interviews carried out by other 
     credible agencies and organizations.
       Of particular concern is the pattern of abuses that occurs 
     in conjunction with attacks by pro-government militias known 
     as murahaleen on villages in SPLA-controlled areas near the 
     boundary between northern and southern Sudan. These are 
     characterized by: capture through abduction (generally 
     accompanied by violence); the forced transfer of victims to 
     another community; subjection to forced labor for no pay; 
     denial of victims' freedom of movement and choice; and, 
     frequently, assaults on personal identity such as renaming, 
     forced religious conversion, involuntary circumcision, 
     prohibition on the use of native languages and the denial of 
     contacts with the victims' families and communities of 
     origin.
       Many of those who are abducted and enslaved remain with 
     their abductors in the areas of South Darfur or West 
     Kordofan; some escape or are returned; and others are sold or 
     transferred to third parties. The Group was unable to 
     establish the extent of the onward sale of slaves. It 
     received no information that would confirm the existence of 
     actual slave markets. The Group also found evidence of ways 
     other than abduction in which persons are put into conditions 
     of slavery, which include being lured by false promises of 
     employment. There are reports, which the Group was unable to 
     confirm, that some abducted children are detained in 
     institutions misleadingly described as Koranic schools.
       In Ed Da'ein the Group interviewed a number of Rizeigat 
     men, women and children who had been detained after the SPLA 
     capture of Yei. We concluded that these particular 
     individuals were not victims of abduction.
       Finding 6. The Group was not able to establish the number 
     of persons who have been abducted and/or enslaved. There are 
     vast divergences among available estimates. (See table under 
     Research Priorities in the Supporting Analysis section.) The 
     Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A have obstructed efforts by 
     independent organizations from within and outside Sudan to 
     investigate the problem of contemporary slavery and related 
     issues.
       Finding 7. The resurgence of slavery in contemporary Sudan 
     differs both from the historical slave trade of the 
     nineteenth-century and from the small-scale inter-tribal 
     abduction (or ``hostage-taking'') that is endemic among many 
     pastoral peoples in East and North-East Africa. 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 through SPLA-
     controlled areas.
       Finding 8. The government acknowledges that abduction of 
     civilians occurs. Its 1999 decision to create the Committee 
     for the Elimination of Abduction of Women and Children 
     (CEAWC) was a significant step in its recognition of the 
     problem and its effort to address the plight of abducted 
     persons. (See the discussion of CEAWC, including concerns 
     about its effectiveness, in the Supporting Analysis section). 
     However, the government has failed to acknowledge its own 
     responsibility for acts committed by militias and other 
     forces under its authority. The lack of judicial control and 
     appropriate structures of military accountability means that 
     militia members are able to act with impunity.
       Finding 9. The challenges of dealing with the issues of 
     slavery, abduction and forced servitude are made much greater 
     by an absence of democratic institutions and practices, both 
     in areas controlled by the government and in those controlled 
     by the SPLM/A and other armed groups. Specifically, there is 
     an absence of pluralism, the rule of law, freedom of the 
     press and other means of exchanging information, 
     accountability in government and public administration, and 
     independence of the judiciary. In government-control led 
     areas, this lack of transparency and accountability has 
     severely limited the ability of citizens to voice grievances 
     or seek judicial redress for a range of abuses, including 
     abduction, slavery and forced servitude. In SPLM/A controlled 
     areas, the lack of democratic governance, the obstruction of 
     free inquiry, and the constraints imposed on civil society 
     have hampered the ability to learn, the truth about alleged 
     abuses of human rights, and to obtain remedies for them.
       Finding 10. The Group notes with alarm recent reports from 
     credible sources, including the Special Rapporteur on Sudan 
     of the UN Commission on Human Rights, regarding increasing 
     levels of fighting in areas of oil development in Western 
     Upper Nile. The Group, while not able to visit this area, 
     interviewed persons displaced in 2002 from Western Upper 
     Nile. They report a pattern that includes the use of 
     militias, attacks on civilians, forced displacement of large 
     local populations, abduction and associated abuses. (See 
     Selected Bibliography).
       Finding 11. Bringing about an end to the practices of 
     slavery, abduction and forced

[[Page E1003]]

     servitude will require Sudan's national political and 
     military leaders to speak out forcefully and to act 
     vigorously against these practices. Denials of the existence 
     of slavery and rationalizations for its existence may be 
     interpreted by some as indifference or, worse, license to 
     continue these abuses.

     

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