Cashing in on "slavery"

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views June 17, 2001]

What is the truth about slavery in Sudan? For several years, we have been hearing about an ongoing slave trade that is rife in parts of Africa, most specifically in northern Sudan.

There are American school children, urged on by their teachers and parents, running campaigns to raise money for the sole purpose of "liberating" slaves. Churches around the land are collecting funds, which reportedly are sent to Africa to support teams of "rescuers," who are intent upon buying captive Christians, in order to free them. Television networks have been busy documenting what are described as actual "redemptions" of enslaved people. Some reports claim that there are as many as two million enslaved souls in Sudan.

The best known of the "slave redemption" groups is Christian Solidarity International (CSI). This organization, based in Switzerland, has played a major role in spreading the news about the trading in human chattel, which it claims is rampant in Sudan. Another source for these claims is England's Baroness Caroline Cox, a member of the House of Lords, who has made modern African slavery her pet cause. The oldest of these organizations is Anti-Slavery International, whereas the newer American Anti-Slavery Group, based in Boston, is a leading fundraiser for the movement.

Few would expect that in societies, where slavery has traditionally played a principal economic role in tribal life, that the institution had disappeared. But what of the specific claims and charges that are in today's news?

In looking at Sudan, it is first necessary to acknowledge the civil war that has been raging, at infrequent intervals, in the country since the 1950s. The principal combatant in the south is the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), considered rebels, which declared war upon the Sudanese government based in the north and in Khartoum, the capital.

Claims are made that the government and its northern armies conduct regular raids on southern villages, where they capture, abduct and enslave Dinka tribesmen, women and children. The Dinka are a black Christian tribe, whereas the northern population tends to be predominantly Arab Muslim. Actually, the overwhelming percentage (75%) of Sudan's entire population is Muslim--north and south. Christians are a tiny minority, making up no more than 4% of Sudan's population. Far greater numbers of tribesmen belong to indigenous traditional religions, most notably in the south.

But this is Africa and, as you might expect, nothing is simple. In addition to the big war between north and south, there is inter-tribal strife going on between various tribes in the north, as well as similar tribal battles ensuing among different groups in the south. This isn't just one civil war; it's as if there are multiple civil wars occurring simultaneously. To add to the sufferings of the thousands of people caught in the crossfire, both the SPLA rebels and the government forces are notorious for confiscating and then selling desperately needed humanitarian aid, sent from abroad to relieve the hardships of famine victims and refugees.

The confusion, conflicts and continual displacement of people make it nearly impossible for an outsider to understand what's happening, even with a score card. Civil rights abuses and cruelty against different groups are engaged in by the Khartoum government, as well as by the rebel SPLA. And, historically, inter-tribal abduction and kidnapping is a common tactic used by all sides. The picture of northern Arab raiders swooping down on southern black tribesmen and carting off their women and children is not entirely accurate, since abduction is just as likely to occur between black tribes in the south, such as the Dinka and Nuer.

Have "slave redemption" groups, and Christian Solidarity International in particular, exaggerated the extent of forced servitude in Sudan, while embellishing tales of the Ugly Arab Slave Trader? Or have they engaged in outright lying?

According to growing numbers of reliable sources, that do not deny the existence of genuine slave-trading, these anti-slavery groups exacerbate and even help promote raids and abductions. They do so with the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they bring to Sudan on their "redemption" expeditions.

The modern practice of raiding began in earnest in the 1980s, and Human Rights Watch (HRW) claims that the primary motivation of the raiders was to acquire cattle, "with slavery as a secondary consideration." However, once the practice of raiding and abduction caught the attention of certain Westerners, foreign funds began to flow into the region to buy back the captives. HRW claims, "The availability of foreign funds poses the risk that those who already conduct the slaving raids on Dinka villages may make abduction the primary motivation, or may abduct children and women for the explicit purpose of gain from the sale or redemption of abductees, even if cattle remain the primary war spoils attraction."

This, indeed, is exactly what many observers, African as well as foreign, claim is happening. Declan Walsh, a journalist for The Scotsman newspaper, who made several visits to Sudan, claims that, "Some genuine slaves have been redeemed--nobody can say how many--but in other cases the process is nothing more than a careful deceit, stage-managed by corrupt officials of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army." He then describes how the SPLA rounds up children to pose as "slaves" for the camera, pays some pittance to a light-skinned African or Arab, to act as the "slaver," and then demands $35 to $50 a head from the willing Western redeemers.

Walsh, as well as others, recounts the story of missionary Father Mario Riva, who has lived among the southern tribesmen for over 40 years, and expressed his shock and disappointment after witnessing a fake "redemption" ceremony. He watched as Dinka children, whom he knew by name, were coached in stories of abduction and abuse, that they were supposed to repeat to the money-bearing foreigners. Father Riva recognized other faux slaves as members of his parish, and told reporters, "The people told me they had been collected to get money. It was a kind of business."

Several other newspapers have sent journalists to investigate. The Irish Times reports, "According to aid workers, missionaries, and even the rebel movement that facilitates it, slave redemption in Sudan is often an elaborate scam." The newspaper describes what happens after a successful expedition on the part of a redemption group: "After their plane takes off, the profits are divvied up--a small cut to the 'slaves' and the 'trader,' but the lion's share to local administrators and SPLA figures."

More than a few questions have been raised about the motives of such groups as Christian Solidarity International, that persists in continuing the "slave buybacks" long after other humanitarian groups have ceased to participate. In 2001, in the United States, fundraising by CSI was still in full swing, where, among other large contributions, $100,000 was collected from the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Samson Kwaje, a former SPLA spokesman, is quoted by the European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, remarking, "I don't know how much of that gets to Twic County. Ten thousand? Fifty thousand? Who gets what?"

John Jacobson, a former representative of Christian Solidarity International and once an enthusiastic supporter of the redemption practice, now disavows these campaigns. Along with The Atlantic Monthly journalist Richard Miniter, Jacobson visited Sudan to investigate slave-buying first hand. Afterwards, he was interviewed by several news sources. In a Denver Post interview, Jacobson said, "I just felt everything was not as it appeared to be. You don't know if after several days these groups of people get reabducted." And, perhaps, re-redeemed?

Jacobson told Reuters, "It has turned into a circus. The problem now is that Western dollars are making the situation worse, both in terms of abductions and in term of corruption." And to the Christian Science Monitor, he speculated, "There are increasingly numerous reports that significant numbers of those 'redeemed' were never slaves in the first place. Rather, they were simply elements of the local populations, often children, available to be herded together when cash-bearing redeemers appeared."

Equally distressing is evidence that the money rolling in from the West is actually undercutting efforts at peace between tribes. During certain seasons of the year, tribal leaders have been known to reach agreements and have ceased raiding, in exchange for access to pastures and rivers. There now are reports that irresistible funds from the coffers of redeemers offer incentives to break such peace pacts and return to raiding, hostage taking, and "slave" selling.

Finally, Bona Malwal, a member of the Dinka tribe, instructor at Oxford University, and publisher of the Sudan Democratic Gazette, in 2000, openly challenged claims made by Baroness Cox about her redemption excursions, ending a letter to her with the words, "I know that you have put out for propaganda, and maybe for fundraising purposes as well, that you redeemed slaves at Mayen Abun in October when nothing of the sort happened. I sincerely hope that this type of game stops . . . I sincerely hope that you do see the harm that could be caused and that you will refrain from this activity in the future."

Meanwhile, back here in the U.S., in a news item dated June 13, 2002, Christian News Service reports on Highline Community School in Aurora, Colorado, where students are committed to raising money to support the continuing activities of Christian Solidarity International. Said funds are intended to foil the "Muslim northern troops abducting and enslaving Christians from the south." And in a recent press release of June 11, entitled, "The media and Sudan: Why such poor journalism?," the European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council attempts to clarify what it describes as misinformation. It states, "At least some of the misinterpretation, or outright misrepresentation, of Sudanese issues has been the result of poor, sensationalistic and sometimes politically partisan reporting by elements of the international media. This type of reporting has a distinct responsibility for some of the problems Sudan now faces." Andrew Buckoke, a foreign correspondent, who writes for major British publications, is quoted as saying, about his fellow journalists, "Most of the writers settle for the exaggeration of the romantic or sensational aspects."

More information about this subject and Sudan can be found at: European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council; Human Rights Watch; Sudan-American Foundation for Education; and U.S. Committee for Refugees.

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