Sudan’s Armed Forces Enslave More Black African Women and Children
Westlake Village, CA (October 18, 2000) The Government of Sudan’s Popular Defense Forces (PDF.) have again raided villages in Aweil West County of Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal. In one village alone, Goc Machar, they enslaved at least 21 black African women and children on October 7, 2000, according to the Civil Commissioner of Aweil West County, Simon Wol.
The enslaved women and children were driven together with thousands of stolen cows and goats in northern direction towards the River Kiir and areas controlled the Government of Sudan. The attackers in this latest PDF offensive arrived on approximately 600 horses; they caused extensive destruction to huts, harvest and grain stores in Goc Machar and the surrounding areas. Seven villagers were reportedly killed, and scores were wounded.
The Government of Sudan has sponsored slave raids against the black African civilian population of northern Bahr El Ghazal since the mid-1980s. The current National Islamic Front regime intensified this policy as a part of its declared jihad (Islamic holy war) after seizing power from an elected government in 1989. The war in Sudan has assumed genocidal proportions, with two million black Africans dead and over four million displaced.
This latest slave raid took place on the eve of attempts by the Government of Sudan to win a seat at the United Nations Security Council. Christian Solidarity International’s (CSI), International President, the Revd. Hans Stueckelberger has urged the UN Security Council to take decisive action to persuade the Government of Sudan to return all slaves forthwith to their families in Southern Sudan.
CSI, together with black African community leader and Arab retrievers, has liberated 38,418 Sudanese slaves since 1995.