| http://www.canoe.ca/Columnists/coren.html
November 15, 2003
Slavery lives on in Sudan
By MICHAEL COREN -- Sun Media
"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. |
