Sudan: Oil, Horror & Indifference

http://frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=10988

Sudan's Slaves
By Michael Coren
Sun Media | November 25, 2003

Women and children abducted in slave raids are roped by the neck
or strapped to animals and then marched north. Along the way, many
women and girls are repeatedly gang-raped. Children who will not
be silent are shot on the spot. In the north, slaves are either
kept by individual militia soldiers or sold in markets. Boys work
as livestock herders, forced to sleep with the animals they care
for.

"Some who try to escape have their Achilles tendons cut to hamper
their ability to run. Masters typically use women and girls as
domestics and concubines, cleaning by day and serving the master
sexually by night. Survivors report being called "Abeed" (black
slave), enduring daily beatings, and receiving awful food. Masters
also strip slaves of their religious and cultural identities, giving
them Arabic names and forcing them to pray as Muslims."

Thus says one leading slavery abolitionist group. A former slave
writes of "the rape of girls and boys alike, the forced circumcision
of boys and girls, often with them fully conscious and screaming
and having to be held down by many people. Sodomy and sadistic
torture are common. Living hell."

Another says. "Families were broken up, with children sometimes
murdered in front of their mothers as a warning and because they
were too much trouble. We cried out to the West, to the countries
who said they believed in human rights, but they were indifferent
to our agony."

Thank goodness, of course, that this is the stuff of a dark history
that can now be comfortably condemned in the privilege of a civilized
and complacent modernity. Oh, what awful times they were.

Problem is, it's not some description of the ancient world or an
example of the worst excesses of American slavery in the early 19th
century. No, it's happening right now, and some of those who have
escaped this evil have found sanctuary in Canada. They are willing
to tell their stories, if anyone will listen.

This is the reality of Sudan, a country with which Ottawa has good
relations and a nation that is accepted in every major international
organization, where it regularly votes to condemn liberal democracies.
Because it possesses oil, many foreign governments who scream freedom
seem to become deaf and dumb about the obscenity of slavery.

There has been a civil war going on in Sudan for years, and after
years of pain and struggle a peace treaty has been signed between
the Islamic government in Khartoum and the black, largely Christian
groups in the south. A referendum has been guaranteed to decide
whether the south wants independence.

The "yes" vote would be almost unanimous, but the Arab rulers in
the north have enforced a waiting period of several years until
this plebiscite can take place.

One can only imagine what they will try to do in the time they have
left.

They are backed by many Muslim groups and governments the world
over and even have supporters in Canada. Major newspapers have
featured articles denying that slavery exists in Sudan. It is almost
akin to Holocaust denial in its vile spirit. Then again, several
Muslim states bathe in those stagnant and infected waters these
days.

This horror has taken place for two major reasons. The people of
southern Sudan are black, and they are not Muslim. At a time when
we hear so much about Islam's treatment by the world, we ought to
consider that one of the greatest crimes of this generation has
been committed by a Muslim fundamentalist government and army against
a black and Christian people who want only their dignity.

In fact, millions have been enslaved, murdered, mutilated and abused
in this campaign, far more than have suffered in, for example, what
are known as the Occupied Territories in Israel. Odd, then, that
so much media time is given to that situation, so little to this.

The world ought to look closely at what takes place in Sudan in the
months and years to come. There are very powerful and very bad
people who will resist ceaselessly the creation of a separate African
and largely Christian state on the edge of the House of Islam.

Let us hope the world does not play the role of hypocrite once
again. The stench of the blood is becoming overwhelming.

Michael Coren is a Toronto-based writer and broadcaster. He can be
emailed at [EMAIL PROTECTED] and his web site is michaelcoren.com.