CSI Brings Christians and Jews to South Sudan
WASHINGTON and AWEIL, Sudan, April 3, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 14-year-old Ngor Angok Malith was thrilled to be liberated from slavery in Northern Sudan and reunited with his mother. For the past decade, the boy had been physically and psychologically abused by his Baggara Arab master, Ibrahim, in the village of Futa, Northern Sudan.
Ngor, renamed Musa by his master, was one of 354 black Southern Sudanese slaves whose freedom from Baggara Arab masters in Northern Sudan was facilitated last month by Christian Solidarity International (CSI) and its Sudanese partners.
Among those who were present during the documentation of the recently freed slaves were Ellen Ratner (liberal) and Tony Sayegh (conservative) - both FOX News commentators, Lynn Beck - Beck Management Group, Dr. John Eibner - CEO, Christian Solidarity International (USA), Diane Gooch - Strong New Jersey, Dr. Charles Jacobs - American Anti-Slavery Group, Rabbi Joseph Polak - Boston University chaplain, Bruce Ratner - FCRC, Rebecca Ratner - filmmaker, and Kate Taylor - singer/songwriter.
Most of the liberated slaves were captured as booty by the armed forces of the Government of Sudan during the late North-South civil war (1983-2005). Some of the freed child slaves are the offspring of masters and slave women. Sudan's President Omer Bashir openly declared his Islamist government's war against non-Muslim communities in the South a "jihad", thereby legitimizing the enslavement of Southerners according to traditional Islamic Shariah law.
Also liberated were:
Deborah Arop Mawien, 42 years old: Throat cut in mock execution while resisting rape. Forcibly converted from Christianity to Islam. Renamed "Mariam". Racially and religiously insulted. Three children left behind with master in Magadam, Northern Sudan.
Ayel Akot Bol, 37 years-old: Stabbed in chest. Gang raped. Gave birth to master's son. Threatened with death. Forcibly converted to Islam. Genitally mutilated. Renamed "Fatma". Frequently beaten. Racially and religiously insulted. Forced to work without pay. One child left behind in Tabun, Northern Sudan.
The Government of Sudan suspended slave raiding when it signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) of 2005. But the CPA failed to include a mechanism for the liberation and repatriation of slaves. According to a Sudanese government source, James Aguer Alic, over 35,000 Southern Sudanese slaves remain in bondage in the North.
"The continuing enslavement of black Southern Sudanese in Northern Sudan and the indifference of the international community to this recognized 'crime against humanity' register over nine points on the Richter scale of moral depravity," said Ellen Ratner, White House Bureau Chief of Talk Radio News.
Tony Sayegh added: "The world can no longer deny the human tragedy that has occurred in the Sudan as it relates to slavery. The moment to change our attitudes and policies toward the North's brutal practice of enslaving Christians from the South is now."
Rabbi Polak recalled that the Jewish people had once been enslaved in Egypt and encouraged the freed slaves - as Passover approaches - to give thanks regularly for their deliverance.
Contact: V. Sawelenko, (805) 777 7107
Christian Solidarity International
CONTACT: V. Sawelenko, +1-202-290-8855 m, or +1-805-777-7107
