CSI Liberates 1,050 Sudanese Slaves; Over 5,000 Slaves Freed Since 1995

Christian Solidarity International letter to the President, PRNewswire, 1 Feburary 1999

President William J. Clinton
White House
Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington DC

Dear Mr. President,

A Christian Solidarity International delegation (John Eibner & Gunnar Wiebalck) redeemed 1,050 Black African slaves from bondage during a visit to northern Bahr El Ghazal, Sudan from 8 to 13 January. This is the largest number of Sudanese slaves known to have been freed at one time in the recorded history of slavery in Sudan. The previous high was set by CSI last October when 840 slaves were freed. This latest action raises to 5,066 the total number of slaves liberated since 1995 through CSI's Slave Redemption Program. Tens of thousands remain in bondage.

The CSI representatives paid Arab slave retrievers the equivalent of $52,500 (US) in Sudanese currency for the freedom of the 1,050 slaves ($50 per slave). These retrievers work in conjunction with CSI and the leaders of the black African communities that are affected by slave raids. The retrievers undertake great personal risks to locate slaves in Northern Sudan and return them to their homeland in the South where they are then redeemed. Financial support for this latest action came primarily from CSI supporters in the USA, the S.T.O.P. campaign of school children in Colorado, the American Anti-Slavery Group, and the Confessing Church Movement in Germany. The overwhelming majority of the redeemed slaves were children, some with their mothers.

Interviews with redeemed slaves reveal a consistent pattern of physical and psychological torture, such as throat slitting, death threats, female genital mutilation, forced conversions to Islam, beating and lashings, and unpaid labor. The armed forces of the Government of Sudan (GOS) systematically capture and use the Christian and animist black African slaves—particularly child slaves—as one of the most potent instruments of its declared “jihad” (Islamic Holy War) against the communities that resist its totalitarian policies of forced Islamization and Arabization.

Testimony from Arab traders coming from Northern Sudan points to an intensive military mobilization by the GOS in preparation for a fresh wave of slave raids. It is expected that the slave raids will be unleashed before Spring. Fear of impending attacks has already prompted the displacement of large numbers of people from their homes to more secure locations in northern Bahr El Ghazal.

Mr. President, you are aware that slavery is identified as a “crime against humanity” in international law, and that the enslavement of women and children is forbidden by the Genocide Convention (Art. II). CSI therefore appeals to you to condemn in the strongest terms the flourishing institution of slavery in Sudan; to call upon the UN Security Council to take appropriate measures to prevent further slave raids; and to encourage UNICEF to establish a slave tracing and retrieval program to reunite enslaved women and children with their families.

Thank you, Mr. President for your compassion for the enslaved, black African women and children of Sudan.

Sincerely yours,

Rev. Hans Stuckelberger
Founder & International President

John Eibner
Assistant to the Int’l President