" When the nineteenth
century dawned the Sudan was closed to Egypt. The Ptolemies
had been dead for nearly two thousand years...Europe readjusted
her maps, Africa found in Muhammad Aly a born leader of men..."
It is how the tragedy began. It is the story of
the restless nation whose people have been demandinging for
peace and justice. Slavery in Sudan has endured for almost two
hundred years (since 1880's). Until today the slavery issue
has still been recognized worldwide, despite an emergence of
the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights since 1948. In aritcle 3
and 4 clearly state that everyone is guaranteed by rights to
life, liberty and personal security and the practice of slavery
is illegitimated and prohibited. However, the international
document can just only be out in the air without any action
taken by the leader of the country. To try sloving the problem
is to look at its causes in the first place. Therefore, the
object of this research webpage is to try clarifying the problem
of slavery to readers through exploring the history of the country
since the Egyptian influence until today. Many people may be
familiar with the news and pictures published by many private
organizations, however, they usually lack of history and causes
beyond what is going now. We believe that by examing the causes
of slavery in Sudan is the most crucial way to really get into
the problem.
Despite a cease-fire in the civil war, intense
focus and effective solutions to the problem of slavery have
remained elusive. We may see complicating efforts to end kidnapping
for the slave trade, are the many non-governmental organizations
and private foundations who redeem slave children and women
by purchasing their freedom from slaveowners and slave traders.
In fact, this method is taken without the understanding of its
causes. Thus, these well-intended agents actually furnished
incentives and fueling the trade, to the detriment of other
campaigns pursuing long-term resolve to slavery. Our website
will present some aspects of protential causes of slavery in
Sudan:
There is a good sign for better human rights in the international
community, as we may see that over a hundred of Human Rights Instruments
have been released. However, the real progress is to take action
and apply them to our community today. Apparently, no one would
expect slavery as the end of our human history, but what action
we could take and how much effort we should make to ascertain
that goal. Before we could answer that question, we should think
about the limited choices the Sudanese could have because the
local people who can be the real actors in freeing their friends
and families actually lost their power. We believe that actions
taken at the international level cannot be more effective than
those at the local level.
********************
Web resources:
Arab Gateway - http://www.al-bab.com/arab/countries/sudan.htm#MAPS
Slavery in Sudan - http://www.missionsudan.com/
Sudan Questions and Answer - http://members.aol.com/casmasalc/newpage8.htm
Abolish. The Anti-slavery Portal - http://www.iabolish.com/today/photo-gallery/images.htm
Christian Solidarity International - http://www.csi-int.org/
Human Rights Watch -
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/sudanupdate.htm
Relief Web - http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf
The Economist Sudan's war.
February 9th-15th 2002
Pierre Chabites. Gordon: The Sudan and Slavery.
London: George Routledge and Sons, LTD., 1933
Amir H. Idris. Sudan's Civil War: Slavery,
Race and Formational Identities. The Edwin Mellon Press:
New York, 2001
Sam L. Laki, "Self-Determination: A Solution to the Sudan
Problem," Northeast African Studiess 3 (1996):16
South Sudanese Friends International (SSFI), "Oil in Sudan,"
(June 25, 2000), www.southsudanfriends.org/issues/oil000614.html,2.
U.S. Committee for Refugees and 2002 United Nations Consolidated
Inter-Agency Appeal for Sudan quoted by The United States Agency
for International Development (USAID), "Sudan-Complex Emergency
Situation Report #2 (FY 2002)," (January 31, 2002) www.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/sudan_sr02_fy02.html,
1-2.
"Slavery and Slave Redemption in the Sudan," Human
Rights Watch Backgrounder, HUman Rights News, (March 2002), www.hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/sudanupdate.htm,
1.
"Sudan Oil May Be Funding War -- Yet Offers Best Chance
For Stable Future,” posted Feb. 4, 2002, www.sudan.net/news/posted/4257.html,
1.
"Introduction: Winning Oil - Losing People,” Amnesty International
(posted March 5, 2000), www.web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/index/AFR540012000,
4.
"Sudan and Russia Forging New Ties Around Oil and Arms,”
Global Policy Forum - U.N. Security Council (posted January, 2002),
www.globalpolicy.org/security/natre
s/oil/sudan/2002/0122arms.htm, 1.
Sudan - Complex Emergency Situation Report #2 (FY 2002) January
31, 2002,” www.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/sudan_sr02_fy02.html,
"Sudanese Government denies humanitarian access to 1.7
million people in southern Sudan,” posted April 5, 2002, Source:
World Food Programme (WFP), www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/...,
1-2. ”
Ripping off Slave ‘Redeemers,' News Article by Washington Post
(posted Feb. 26, 2002), www.sudan.net/news/posted/4493.html,
1.
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