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Jewish World Review Dec. 18, 2000 / 21 Kislev, 5761

Nat Hentoff

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A government that
executes children


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- BEFORE THE PRESIDENT broke his silence on slavery in Sudan, denouncing it on Human Rights Day (Dec. 6) as a "scourge" and "atrocity," Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice went by plane -- at considerable personal risk -- in November to see for herself the grim facts on the ground.

She met with women who had been freed from slavery, and, as Reuters reported, called for an end to this heinous practice in which women and children are "captured, enslaved, tortured and raped by Khartoum's Arab militia."

In the same month, in what appeared to be retaliation against her visit to southern Sudan, the Sudanese government -- the Reuters dispatch continued -- "canceled the visas of U.S. diplomats who go to Khartoum (the capital) on short visits to run the U.S. embassy."

There is a further sequel, as reported by Christian Solidarity International, which has freed many of the slaves: "On November 20, the day after U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice's arrival in Marial Bai to meet with victims of slavery, the armed forces of the Government of Sudan executed seven African schoolboys following a midmorning slave raid on the nearby Guong Nowh Community Elementary School, according to Simon Wol, the Civil Commissioner of Awail West County" in rebel territory.

I received this information from John Eibner of Christian Solidarity International, whom I've known during the five years I have covered this story. Everything he has told me has proved true, and he keeps going to southern Sudan to liberate slaves -- putting his life on the line each time.

In that midmorning slave raid, Eibner reports, "government soldiers also enslaved 24 other children, including six girls." Two children who escaped "reported that soldiers shot three boys in the head to instill fear and obedience in the other children. All the children were forced to watch the killings. Local people found the discarded bodies of four other captured boys who had been similarly murdered."

Admittedly, the attention of this nation -- and its media -- has been focused on the battle of the ballots in Florida. But once we have a president, will the murders of these seven black children continue to be overlooked by Americans -- including the new president?

If this had happened in Kosovo or in Gaza, would there not have been some notice in our newspapers and on television, even during the controversy over the divided ballots? This, after all, was the murderous work of a government that is seated at the United Nations.

The raid on the elementary school, says Christian Solidarity International, "was reportedly undertaken by an approximately 600-strong unit of Government troops belonging to the Popular Defence Forces (PDF)."

In the same month, November, President Omer Bashir of Sudan, the report continues, "signaled the beginning of a new season of slave raiding when he urged 12,000 PDF troops at a mobilization rally in the western town of Nyala to continue the 'jihad' in southern Sudan." The source is Agence France-Press.

Civil Commissioner Wol has asked United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan -- who has been silent on slavery in Sudan -- to finally, at no personal risk, speak on behalf of the civilized nations of the world. He must demand, says Wol, that the Sudanese government end the practice of slavery, return the slaves to their homes, and prosecute the raiders who not only abduct children, but also abduct women -- many of whom are forced into sexual slavery in the north.

During the United Nations Millennial Summit in September, as reported by the American Anti-Slavery Group, "not one of the world leaders mentioned slavery as they pledged to work for a brighter world, though Kofi Annan described the summit as the time for the world to rise to the millennial challenges."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright did meet in September with fifth-grade students from Denver who have raised money to free slaves. Also in the delegation was Francis Bok, the first escaped Sudanese slave to testify before the Senate. Albright promised the fifth-graders that she would pursue the issue of slavery. And the administration did successfully lobby to deny Sudan a seat in the U.N. Security Council.

But before he leaves office, the president -- who can no longer say he is unaware of these horrors in Sudan -- should address the nation on slavery, and perhaps say his farewell as the leader of the free world in the company of those fifth-graders.



JWR contributor Nat Hentoff is a First Amendment authority and author of numerous books. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

12/11/00: Caucus speaks out on slavery in Sudan
12/04/00: This year, give the gift of the Constitution
11/27/00: Is capital punishment a deterrent?
11/20/00: Punishing the Boy Scouts
11/06/00: Joe Lieberman's excommunication
10/30/00: CNN discards journalistic responsibility
10/23/00: The basic flaw in the debates
10/16/00: Nader's American history lesson; or: Silencing Jesse Jackson
10/06/00: Hate-crime laws: The real message
10/03/00: Why Clinton was not convicted
09/25/00: Protecting babies born alive
09/25/00: A selective zeal for justice
09/06/00: The power of nonviolence
08/28/00: Should Dr. Laura be silenced?
08/22/00: Trashing the Bill of Rights in Philly
08/14/00: The repressive hand of China
08/07/00: A racial incident on a train
07/31/00: Attention Jesse Jackson: Sudanese children are still branded and enslaved
07/24/00: Open up the presidential debates!
07/17/00: A stealth attack on privacy
07/03/00: Plea to the Congressional Black Caucus
06/26/00: Burning 'bad' ideas at college
06/19/00: Affirmative action beyond race
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06/06/00: The Liar's legacy and America's delusions
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05/08/00: The coverage of Reno's lawless raid
05/01/00: In Clinton and Castro's best interests
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04/10/00: Teacher brings Constitution to life
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03/27/00: The censoring of feminist history
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03/13/00: Big labor, big China, spinning Gore
03/03/00: The ACLU violates its principles --- yet again!
02/28/00: Still two nations?
02/11/00: You bet we should disbar Bubba
01/31/00: Where was Jesse?
01/24/00: Is suing church for sexual harassment an entanglement?
01/18/00: Will Miranda make it?
01/11/00: ACLU: Guilty until presumed innocent?
01/03/00: Liberty lion should be Man of Century
12/28/99: Drug tests that tear families apart
12/20/99: Get ready for decisive ruling on school vouchers for religious schools
12/13/99: Guess who is taking the lead in anti-slavery movement? Hint: It ain't Rev. Jesse
12/06/99: When we refuse to buy the 'otherly-challenged' excuse
11/29/99: Expelling 'Huck Finn'
11/22/99: Pleading the First
11/16/99: Goal of diversity needs rethinking?
11/08/99: Prosecution in darkness
11/02/99: The accuracy that's owed to readers
10/26/99: Disappeared Americans
10/18/99: The blue wall of silence
10/11/99: Bill Bradley's speech tax
10/04/99: 'Technicalities' that keep us free
09/27/99: Our 'Americanism'-ignorant generation
09/20/99: ACLU better clean up its act
09/13/99: A professor of infanticide at Princeton
09/07/99: The Big Apple's Rotten Policing
08/23/99: Lawyerly ethics
08/16/99: To Get a Supreme Court Seat
08/02/99: What are the poor people doing tonight?
07/26/99: Lady Hillary and the press

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