THE SUDAN STORY
By Anne D. Zimmerman, M.D.	Return to SUDAN PROFILE
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THE FACTS

To set the scene, we need to know a few facts. Sudan is approximately one-third of the area of the United States or about the size of Europe. It contains about a million square miles and 28 million people who represent 140 or more ethnic groups. Arabic is the official language, but there are more than 120 other languages. Since 1983, when the current phase of the longest running civil war began, over two million have been killed, and five million have been displaced at least once. Two million or more are affected by famine yearly. Seventy percent (70%) of the population are Suni-Muslim. Forty percent (40%) are Arab. Less than ten percent of the seventy percent are radical Islamists.

Steven Wondu, the Sudanese representative to the United States, says, "This is the only spot in the world where a loin cloth around the groin is a luxury, where an aspirin is as hard to obtain as a heart transplant, where the only roads are those excavated by bare human feet, where piped water is a miracle that has never occurred, where pencils are unfamiliar objects to children, and where mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters are all dependent on foreign relief workers."

RELIGION

Christianity was first introduced into the Sudan by the Coptic Christians from Egypt in the early centuries after Christ. Muslims from Arabia began to exert their influence first by trade, then by slave raids, and finally by conquests during and after the 7^th century. The Islamization process took until the 15^th century and accompanied the gradual evolution of a black Arabic race and culture. The replacement of Christianity, however, extended southward only to the Nuba Mountains and the great swamps of the Nile headwaters. In these regions, the people remained ethnically and culturally African.

It was not until after 1898 that Lord Kitchener extended the Anglo-Egyptian rule to include the south. By 1902, the boundaries of the Sudan were drawn to include this southern region. The Anglo-Egyptian rule of Sudan, however, officially recognized the ethic disparity between the Arabic north and the African south. The south was separately administered, thus giving it a degree of autonomy. Catholic and Protestant missionaries were encouraged to evangelize the African animists and to develop schools and medical centers. Islamic northerners were banned. Unfortunately, the plans to lay political and economic foundations of government were not carried out before the more powerful north pushed to abolish the southern policy of separation. The British reversed its policies at the Juba Conference in 1947, and at the independence of Sudan in 1956, the two areas, with distinctly different heritages and cultures, and now opposing faiths, were locked together in inevitable friction and conflict. Today, most of Sudan’s Christians live in the Nuba Mountains or below the El Arab River. They occupy land and own resources that the government in Khartoum covets and needs in order to achieve its goals.

Traditionally, Muslims have defined their faith by the Qu’ran which they consider God’s final word to mankind. Other belief systems, and in particular Christianity, are accepted and respected if they, too, have a holy book and predate Mohammed. All atheists and religions that do not meet these two criteria are considered "non-Muslims" which is almost to say non-entities.

The Qu’ran contains divine revelations and instructions on how to live. Each believer should study for himself the Qu’ran in its original Arabic. Those who have done so can tell of their interpretations. If they attract a following, they become known as Imam. Those Imam with the greatest following may obtain political power, and their interpretations may become legally binding as in the Sudan where the supreme Imam pronounced the following Fatwa (decree) in 1993: "An insurgent who was previously a Muslim is now an apostate. Non-Muslims are non-believers standing as a bulwark against the spread of Islam, and both may be killed."

This cleverly-worded decree relegates Christians to the non-Muslim class, together with the animists, thus circumventing tradition and providing a religiously acceptable explanation for the government’s persecution and murder of Sudanese Christians. Christianity appears to be a threat to the government of Sudan, perhaps because America is historically Christian, perhaps for other reasons. But whatever the reason, the radical Islamic regime wants no challenge to its beliefs and policies. Because of the Fatwa, a Jihad or holy war against the enemies of Islam could be called any time as it was officially in 1992 against the Nuer Christians of the Nuba Mountains. Ancient tribal rivalries have also been reawakened and exploited in the cause of Jihad.

Since 1956, when independence was granted to the country, there has been war between the north and the south. Because both entities reside within the borders formed by the British, the resulting conflict is considered a civil war, thus masking the actual genocide. This shields the conflict from United Nations because it is considered an internal problem only. However, the Utopian Islamic conviction that the nation of Shar’ia law would shower the Sudanese with divine favor and turn the country into a modern paradise has not happened. There has been no Islamic revival. The majority of Muslims in Sudan are only reluctant adherents of Shar’ia law. They would prefer to live peacefully in an atmosphere of religious tolerance.

After 17 years of war, El Nimeri, who took over the government by coup in 1969, ushered in a tenuous peace of 11 years. However, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, whose goal was to purify Islam, had insidiously infiltrated the government and led it to impose Shar’ia law in 1983. Shar’ia law, the harsh Muslim law from the 7^th century, limits the status of women, relegates non-Muslims to the second class, and calls for stoning for adultery, amputations for thefts, and death for apostasy. This caused much upheaval in the country, and a southern resistance movement was formed under John Garang. It was committed not only to stopping the northern aggression but to forming a stable, free democratic nation. In fact, a democratically-elected government was tried but was overthrown four years later by General Omar al Bashir. His right-hand man was a cleric named El Turabi, a pragmatic, calculating, ruthless man who is the main strategist behind the war with the south.

Under El Turabi, the National Islamic Front’s (NIF) stated agenda is to turn Sudan into the brotherhood’s concept of a model Islamic state and use its location, agricultural lands, and mineral resources to enable the radical Islamization of the entire continent. And they are willing to use any and all means such as deception, manipulation, corruption, exploitation, ruthless force, and genocide in their relentless confiscation of all land and the repression, conversion, or eradication of all civilians in the way.

The burned earth policy sets the stage for food and medicine to be used as a weapon of war. The UN and other aid organizations acceptable to Khartoum are not allowed to go where the famine is the worst. The survivors and displaced civilians in the "no go" areas depend on NGO’s (non-government sanctioned organizations) for survival.

Intertribal conflict, general unrest, and defection of soldiers are often instigated by the north.

The Jihad against Christians and non-Muslims is encouraged and provisions by the government.

Ethnic cleansing is carried out by massacre, bombing civilian schools, hospitals, and other buildings, and planting land mines around those towns that have been taken over by the NIF.

The Nuba "peace camps," in and around the Nuba Mountains are nothing less than concentration camps where survival depends on renouncing Christianity.

Deception and misinformation by Khartoum are used to keep the international communities from knowing about or interfering in the war. They say the presence of Christian churches in Khartoum show they practice religious freedom and that all they want to do is help all the people. They deny that the slave trade exists, yet many government leaders own slaves.

Slavery is endemic to the Sudan. Baggara Muslims routinely enslaved the neighboring cattle herding Dinka before the first World War, at which time the British enforced a ban on slavery. Since 1990, however, the NIF has rearmed and supplied the tribesmen with horses and other equipment so that they will carry on a holy war against the southern villages. Their battle pay consists of captured booty and slaves.

CHRISTIANS IN SUDAN

Christian persecution implies harassment, abuses, or elimination of civil and basic human rights with imprisonment, torture, enslavement, and murder because of a person’s faith in Christ. All of this occurs today in the Sudan but is not so simple. All other faiths, including Muslims who do not agree with or submit to the radical Islamic dictates of the minority in power, are also persecuted.

In the northern urban areas, most of the churches have been destroyed. A few remain to show the west how tolerant the government is of other religions. Christians are considered second-class citizens or lower and can live only in designated areas. Individuals are routinely abducted on charges of insurgency and incarcerated in "ghost houses" where they endure cruel, disfiguring torture and death. Non-Muslims, Africans, and refugees from the south are denied work or civil rights and confined to squatters camps outside Khartoum. These camps are being systematically raised and the people forcibly relocated with what little they can quickly salvage to the desert 40 kilometers away from Khartoum. Survival in these camps depends upon conversion to Islam.

In the south, there is war and genocide. The villages are attacked, homes and crops burned, men slaughtered, and the women and children marched north to slavery. Cluster and deadly chemical bombs are dropped indiscriminately on villages, hospitals, aid stations, and refugee camps. The boys in captivity are sent to Qu’ranic schools where they are forced to memorize the Qu’ran before being trained and sent to the battle front where they are used as shields for the Arabic militia. Girls are genitally mutilated or circumcised to make them acceptable to be married to an Arab or to be used as concubines. Their offspring will help produce a new generation void of any Christian influence or faith. The survivors of the bombing and the raids face death by famine and disease caused by the scorched earth policy and the devious governmental control of international relief agencies.

SLAVERY

Slavery is 1,300 years old. It was practiced since the 7^th and 8^th centuries by Arab traders and then raiders. In the 1300's, colonialism was slaved-based, and in the 1800's, as many as 30,000 were exported to the United States under the Ottoman Empire. In 1898, when the British took over, they stopped the northern slave raids against the south. This policy lasted until 1989 when the NIF revived and supported the slave raids as a tool of war. Besides the Jihad of the Baggara tribesmen, there is a so-called "slave train" that goes deep into the south. It acts as a mobile military stronghold for raiding the surrounding country. It is estimated that 20,000 or more women and children are living as slaves in the north or sold to other countries. The Baggara tribesmen feel that enslavement of southern Africans is a traditional right. "Abit," their word for the black African, is synonymous with the word "slave."

Gaspar Biro, a UN spokesman, stated that "abduction of children, as well as women, is routinely practiced. Women and children are kept in special camps which have become 20^th century slave markets. The price varies with the supply. Women and children are sold for $15 to $100 today. People from the north and from abroad come to purchase the women and children for money or goods such as camels. Young girls and women are purchased for housekeepers and, in some cases, wives. And the boys are reportedly kept as servants. Transactions take place quietly among relatives when the Arab militia returns home with the war booty of slaves. Many children are auctioned off.

Children are the real prize because they are more easily intimidated and brainwashed. Their names are changed, and they are required to speak only Arabic. The boys serve their masters as herders until they are old enough to memorize the Qu’ran. The Qu’ranic schools are run with severe discipline. The boys are required to do 18 hours of memorization daily for up to seven years. After this, they are often conscripted into the military to fight against their own kin. Women and young girls are forced into domestic labor. In the worst cases, they are forced to work, frequently beaten, given very little food which is often mixed with sand or urine, and locked in at night with the livestock. Older females are circumcised and raped; the pre-pubertal ones are mutilated. Unlike circumcision, female mutilation is done close to the vagina, thus preventing intercourse. Ninety percent (90%) of Arabic Sudanese practice this form of chastity. It is perfectly legal under the criminal code. And, although it is forbidden under the health law, no one is ever prosecuted.

Simon Deng, Minister of Information for the southern Sudanese community in America, says that the Arab will always try to enslave people because it is in his culture to enslave people. The Arab is an expansionist. He will never be satisfied with just the north and south. In reality, he will not be satisfied until the whole world worships Islam. To the Arab, the African is born to be his slave. It does not matter that some have the same skin color, as your color is not the issue here. They consider themselves Arab. The issue is the mind and the belief of the people. And this is a problem that involves two things – race and religion. They consider all southern Sudanese as slaves. The African racial heritage and culture are the factors that determine their slave status, not skin color or religion. A black with Arabic blood is superior to an African slave who has converted to Islam.

I met Rebecca in November 2000 on my second trip to the Sudan. At the age of ten, she barely survived a "holy" raid against her village of Marial Baai in 1998. The raiders from the death train, or the slave train, swept through her village, plundering and burning. She witnessed the senseless slaughter of her mother and family. She was traumatized by a severe leg wound but escaped capture because they thought she was dead. Because her wound was the result of the war, she was evacuated to Nairobi. After a year of recovery, she was due to be sent back to her home village where her father and brother still live. However, instead of returning to live in continual fear of further raids, she was adopted by an American pastor in California. Her future is now bright with promise. At 13, she is a lovely girl, friendly, helpful, and eager to learn, but she is still plagued with nightmares.

Akuac Mathiane gave an interview on my trip to the Sudan in February 1999. She and her son, Mayai, were abducted from Aweng in central Bahr al Ghazal in May 1998. She said, "They came on horses and camels and attacked my village. They killed many people, mainly men, including my brother and my nephew. They took me and two of my children. They snatched Mayai from me and threw him to the ground. He still has a scar on his chest from where he hit a sharp object. Our wrists were tied, and then we were tied to the horses. The children were put on the horses, and we were forced to walk behind them for ten days. We were only given water, polluted with urine, and dura, which is mixed with sand. I and other women were raped during the trip north. We were taken to Kitep near Goth in western Sudan. I was kept by the man who captured me during the raid. My children were taken away from me. I felt overwhelmed and completely helpless. I was made to work, cooking and cultivating dura. I had to work from dawn for long hours, and only when I was weak would they give me a little food, just dura mixed with sand. They called us names and told us that Dinkas were worthless. We deserved only poor food and care and that we were supposed to have been killed. I was forced to pray like a Muslim. They told me that since I was their slave, I had to do what they said, and when I refused to pray, they would beat me with sticks. This happened almost daily. My brother raised some money to try to buy me back from the owner. The price was negotiated, but they tried to kill us instead. So we escaped. I arrived about two months ago. My brother managed to find two-year-old Mayai, as well. My six-year-old son is still in the north. I just do not have enough money to get him when I find him. I also live in fear that the raiders will return."

Those who survive the deadly raids and escape abduction are bereft of family, home, and livelihood. Nevertheless, they do whatever they can to redeem their loved ones. In 1995, on a fact-finding mission to the Sudan, Caroline Cox of Christian Solidarity Worldwide met Mr. Pina Pinacot. He was bowed with grief, and anguish lined his face. He had gone north with all his resources and brought back his family, all except his beautiful ten-year-old daughter. Her owner had set her price too high because she was approaching a marriageable age. Caroline gladly gave him the money he needed.

In order to get their loved ones back, families must raise money, go north, and attempt to purchase them. Because of this, agreements were made with friendly Arab tribesmen who used to trade with the Dinka before the war. The traders were commissioned to look for family members in the north, buy them back, and bring them south. The families would then have to pay the traders and reimburse them for expenses. The problem is the families don’t have any resources. Their resources have been burnt, destroyed, and slaughtered. At the most, they can only pledge future grazing rights and earnings. Small wonder, then, that Lady Cox and others have helped to keep the families reunited.

Through various organizations, money has been raised to free the slaves. Christian Solidarity International, based out of Switzerland, is focusing predominantly on slave redemption and has done an excellent job of raising public awareness of the slavery and genocide in Sudan.

In February 1999, I represented Christian Solidarity Worldwide – USA on a trip to Sudan with Baroness Caroline Cox. With money donated by Americans and Canadians, we freed 325 slaves. Large stacks of money were handed over to the Arabic traders. What started as compassionate gifts to individual families has grown into a complicated moral and economic issue. Since 1999, even greater numbers of women and children are gathered and redeemed en mass.

Such large bundles of money create financial incentives that are pretty powerful incentives for abuse in one of the poorest nations of the world. Hoaxes and corruption are almost inevitable. Prior to 1995, the oldest women and the smallest children were often freed because of the cost of feeding them or because of jealous wives or for other reasons. None are now freed without payment.

Many have expressed the fear that the money is not going just to the traders but is going back to the north to buy arms to fuel the war. The economy of slave redemption could also perpetrate the raids. Caroline Cox stated, "There is war, there is the Jihad, and there are the raids which are carried out as part of the war. And within that tragic context, there is this macabre economy that has developed. But it would go on whether we were here or not. The raiders would come, and they would just clear this land of people, and that would happen. So the fact that we are here making a few resources available for the redemption of some women and children isn’t going to change that war for that price."

UNICEF in particular has claimed that the buying back of slaves puts a price on human life and implicitly condones the commerce in human beings. But the redeeming organizations are not deciding the price; the traders are doing so, and the amount of money handed over, especially today when oil money is flowing so freely, is probably not significant in affecting the amount of arms and the prolongation of the war.

To counteract these potential problems, a determined effort to match names of retrieved slaves with those on local lists of abductees should be made. Details of date, place of capture, and owner’s name and address need to be carefully recorded. There should be an astute negotiation of price and a face-to-face evaluation of the veracity of people involved. Every effort should be made to talk to as many objective, uninvolved villagers as possible. Signs such as scars, brands, Arabic names, knowledge of the Qu’ran, and half Arab babies are evidences of captivity and slavery and should be documented.

My preference in future transactions would be to deal directly with the families of returned slaves rather than hand over large sums to the traders. Those who are still concerned about this issue, whether pro or con, need to go to the Sudan and see for themselves. Redemption boils down to a personal decision. Christ redeemed me with the highest price. Who am I not to pass this on to others, if possible. Redeeming does not condone an abduction. In fact, Sudan’s only Catholic saint, Mother Bakhita, was a slave redeemed by purchase.

After Freedom

The females who have been raped have intense feelings of shame and humiliation for themselves and their village. Many of the raped victims would refuse to return to their families or husbands, even if they could. They are also probably not considered eligible for marriage. Beside these personal issues, there is the fear of the ever-present dangers in their homeland such as famine and recapture through new raids. The home they return to is a place without shelter, food, tools, crops, livestock, or mosquito nets. The government considers this environment to be too dangerous for aid agencies! Despite this grim reality, many prefer to return to the south rather than remain as slaves in the north.

THE NUBA MOUNTAINS

The Nuba is a highly conflicted area because it is inside the northern region. The people speak Arabic, but their sympathies and ethnic ties are to the south. The majority are Christians, yet they are religiously tolerant of other beliefs. For these reasons, the Nubians are an embarrassment to the radical Islamic cause. Thus, a specific Jihad was declared in 1992. The Nuba has been designated as a "no go" area to keep out UN relief planes. All supply lines with the south have also been cut off. The area is frequently bombed, and a scorched earth policy is in practice to drive the civilians away. Low-flying helicopter gun ships deliberately hunt and mow down women and children. Refugees and prisoners are taken to so-called "peace camps" where they live in confinement, forced labor, and forced Islamization. They must pay the price of indoctrination and conversion to Islam or suffer torture, starvation, and death. The children, who hide in the rocks to avoid capture, are orphans in reality as few of their parents ever make it back home. It is estimated that there are as many as 65,000 orphans and abandoned children in the Nuba.

On my second trip to Sudan, I went to the Nuba Mountains and met Andrew who was 18 years old when captured by the radical Islamic troops. His arms and legs were tied together behind his back. They were not tied at the wrist or ankle but at the elbow and knee. He was kept in this position for weeks on end while being tortured and beaten in a futile attempt to force him to deny his faith. He refused to deny his Lord Jesus Christ. Finally, crippled, maimed, and brain damaged, he was dumped in the bush to die. However, he was found and nursed back to some semblance of health. He has regained the use of his legs but not his arms. He feeds himself with his feet, and he communicates by writing in the sand with his toes. He has continual facial contortions. He cannot talk. However, he can think, and he still believes. The most moving moment of my trip was to watch this man, his arms twisted behind him, his face continually moving, joyfully receive communion.

OIL FIELDS

Slavery is the main tactic in the west. Islamization in peace camps characterizes the strategy in the Nuba. But in the oil fields, there is total displacement and death.

The south’s richest resource is oil. It is being exploited and pumped out at an alarming rate. The rate has tripled since August 2000 because of the completion of a 1,000-mile pipeline connecting the oil fields of southern Sudan to the Red Sea at Port Sudan. On gravel pads built above nomads’ reedy swamps, 77 well heads pump more than 500,000 barrels of oil a day. The wells are run by a consortium called the Greater Nile Petroleum Company, Ltd. It is composed of Talisman Oil which is a Canadian company, the China National Petroleum Corporation, Petro-China which owns 40 percent, Malaysia’s Petronus, and Sudapet of Sudan which only owns 5 percent. Since the pipeline became operational, Total Elf of France, BP Amoco, and oil companies from Russia and Sweden are looking to join the group.

A systematic persistent program has been in place to depopulate the swamps and the area around the wells and pipeline. The people are not taken captive. They are not enslaved. They are not sent to peace camps. They are not Arabized and Islamized. Thirty thousand (30,000) southern Sudanese have just been displaced or killed. None of the indigenous people have been spared in the government’s determination to protect its exploitation of the 800-million-barrel oil reserve under the southern swampland. And already, the monies earned from this rape of the land are accelerating and fueling the war. There are new tanks, new planes, radar to detect NGO flights, as well as more frequent and accurate bombing. It is feared that this current dry season may be the last for the people of southern Sudan.

On my third trip into the Sudan, we evacuated injured refugees from the area of the oil fields. One was a mine victim. He watched his village slowly succumb to global starvation despite nearby fields of sorghum, called dura. These fields were outside of the government-occupied town and in the no-life boundaries set around the southern Sudanese oil fields. He thought the nearby sorghum fields offered hope for his family’s survival, but there was death there among the dying stalks. He was able to sneak through the lines and reach the fields, only to be maimed by a mine planted just for that purpose. He may lose his leg, but because of his injury, he has been evacuated to a hospital in Kenya where he will survive the injury, as well as the famine.

Others who don’t get evacuated but are fortunate enough to make it to the few hospitals in southern Sudan are then at risk from bombing raids which specifically target hospitals. Some of the 30 patients we evacuated from the oil fields may not have survived the bombing of the Chikadum Hospital that occurred two weeks after their admission.

CHRISTIAN CHURCH

The Africa Christian Love in Action newsletter says that the church is growing tremendously. It appears that more Muslims are coming to Christ in Sudan than anywhere else in the world. Twenty years ago, the Christians made up five percent of the total population. Today, Christians comprise over twenty percent and an astounding eighty percent of the south.

The Sudanese arm of the body of Christ is not cowed by the persecution. Indeed, as often happens, the body is growing, despite the destruction of churches and the lack of clergy. Those of marginal faith are finding new meaning in the Word and from such teaching aids as Campus Crusade’s Jesus film. Requests for Bibles, teachers, and clergy are more numerous than any other aid in areas not on the brink of death. Prayer requests are universally heard. They want prayers for peace, not for revenge or war. They pray for their enslaved loved ones and for their non-Christian neighbors being repressed or slaughtered. Ninety percent of Sudan’s Muslims want peace and the freedom to worship true Islam.

Caroline Cox pointed out in her interview by Christianity Today that the persecuted church may be the salvation of the western Christians who are distracted by material concerns and personal growth. She goes on to say that if we give our hearts, our hands, and our resources to our brothers and sisters dying because of Christ, instead of being consumed by our cultural decline, God may then heal our own nation.

The hearts of those privileged to go to those trapped in persecution overflow with God’s joy and fulfillment when they receive their radiant thanks. Their dignity and love both humbles and enriches. We have much to learn from our persecuted brothers and sisters. When fellow Christians come alongside them, neither walks alone. Both are stronger and closer to God who shares their walk. And this was my motivation for not only joining Christian Solidarity Worldwide but going to Sudan, that is, to come alongside fellow Christians suffering against rejection, aloneness, and persecution – to stand in the gap – to identify and share and grow together. Proverbs 24:11-12 and Isaiah 58:6-10 give a mandate to free the captives, and Hebrews 13:3 gives a mandate to reach out and share in love and the love of God. First Corinthians 12:26-27 reminds us that we are of one body.

The work of Christian Solidarity Worldwide is to be a voice for the voiceless in Congress and Parliaments and in the UN – to exhibit solidarity with fellow Christians by going to see, listen, record, touch, and share with them, and then to inform the world through newsletters, presentations to organizations and churches, and news releases to the usually silent media. It’s an organization that seeks to reach people cut off from the world and other major aid organizations and to encourage prayer with monthly updates of global needs and prayer calendars. We feel it is a privilege to share, care, and be able to make a difference for victims of oppression, persecution, and genocide, regardless of creed or color. Whenever possible, we bring in aid such as medicines and clothing. In one country, we’ve established a clinic, a foster care center in another, and in one place, we donated cows so the infants would have milk. And when called to do so, we redeem slaves. We feel that rescuing victims does not condone their victimization.

THE FUTURE

Is there hope for the future? Yes. Wherever there are those who have accepted the Holy Spirit into their lives, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, there is hope, not just for eternity but for their life on earth. Their prayers are heard. God is answering individuals through aid organizations like CSW. Peace has not yet come for all the struggling survivors of the genocide, but it will, I believe, if we together seek His wisdom and guidance. So yes, there is hope individually.

Collectively, there is also hope. The soldiers of the SPLA, the resistance army, are carrying Bibles. They march under Christian flags, and there have been miraculous victories. There is a New Sudan being developed under the guidance of Col. Dr. John Garang. The vision is for a country where justice, equality, freedom, prosperity, and democracy are cherished and enjoyed by all, regardless of creed, racial, cultural, or regional background. They are bringing stability and operationalizing the concept of self-determination by developing civil and social administration, establishing laws, courts, hospitals, schools, and reviving economic activities.

Since 1993, the IGAD (Intergovernmental Authority for Development), which includes six surrounding countries, has been working for a peaceful solution to the Sudanese civil war. They have developed a strategic framework for conflict resolution and peace building, but the progress has been painfully slow.

The United Nations is just now beginning to get involved. On February 22, 2001, a UN tribunal established "sexual enslavement" as a war crime. The conviction of three Bosnian Serbs is a vital step against the atrocities of genocide. For other steps, the UN could appoint a full-time special representative to monitor a universal cease fire, a human rights field operative for all of Sudan, and a commission to trace those in slavery and put a halt to the trafficking in humans. There should be an effective embargo against the acquisition of weapons and war machines. The UN already has existing directives, including its own commission on human rights, its founding charter, and the directives of the genocide convention. These are enough to enable the UN to prevail on the government of Sudan to cease the hostilities and atrocities, cease terrorist support, and abolish the use of chemical and biological weapons.

Economically, those companies who deny the actualities of genocide in order to benefit from Sudan’s mineral resources need to be brought to account by the international community. Perhaps there should be economic sanctions against the host countries. More importantly, protest must be made from the people of all nations who respect freedom, tolerance, and individual rights. The Christians in the free world need to raise their voices. There needs to be an international protest. And black Americans need to be heard internationally. Michael Horowitz has started a "campaign for conscience" among colleagues to pressure the NIF to enforce its own laws and to stop the genocide. Such an outcry eradicated apartheid. It could save a whole people group from annihilation in the Sudan.

U.S. Policy

The U.S. support of the government of Sudan ended when the NIF came to power in 1989. However, the focus was on the isolation and containment of terrorism, not on the atrocities of genocide. In 1993, unilateral sanctions were imposed because of terrorism and the assassination of Mubarak in Egypt. In 1997, the U.S. sanctions were increased, again because of terrorism. Trade and financial transactions were terminated. Assets were frozen, and the pharmaceutical factory was bombed. But the U.S. has not gone beyond a ban on trading or conducting financial transactions with Sudan’s oil industry.

Under the new administration, there is hope that there may be tougher sanctions imposed. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which advised Congress and the President on ways to promote religious freedom abroad, pushed for these sanctions in a report dated January 31, 2001. They also propose a "no fly zone" over southern Sudan similar to the one in Iraq, and they want to provide humanitarian aid to the opposition forces. Susan Rice, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, denounced Sudan for making cheerful proclamations of change while continuing to commit atrocities against Christians. Roger Robinson, a former member of the National Security Council, recommends a broad divestment movement against the oil companies comparable to the divestments organized against South Africa. The Holocaust Memorial Museum recently held a special conscience exhibition recognizing and identifying the ongoing Sudanese holocaust. Secretary of State Colin Powell has opened communication with the Sudan government with the aim of normalizing bilateral

relations. What will actually evolve from this is unclear, but it is hoped that American foreign policy will include a strong and effective denunciation of Khartoum’s agenda of genocide.


Our Role

First of all, we as the people of the United States can wake up and turn our focus outward to the rest of the body, especially the suffering of persecuted members. We can pray daily and actively support the International Day of Prayer for the persecuted church which is on the third Sunday in November. We can each speak out and spread the word among friends and associates. We can donate money, supplies, and medicines for the suffering church. We can start a CSW chapter in our own area for coordinated news releases, advocacy prayer, and speakers. We can personally volunteer, not only with CSW, but with any of the organizations seeking to help the people of southern Sudan. And we can go ourselves.

The Sudan Peace Act is currently being debated in the Senate and will probably be in the House next month. It is not a solution, but it is helpful. Nina Shay of Freedom House and the Center for Religious Freedom says that there must be feedback to push the legislation. If anything is going to happen, it’s going to depend on the grassroots – "people in the pews." Each of us needs to encourage our Congressmen to support peace initiatives and other measures to stop genocide.

What would be even more helpful than the Peace Act would be a Sudan peace envoy: a nationally prominent, high-level person who can capture the headlines and travel back and forth between our countries to find a just peace.

We can also support Hillary Shelton of the NAACP and Donald Payne of the Congressional Black Caucas as they work to educate America.

We, the people, at the grassroots level must seek to make a difference. We need to come alongside the people of Sudan who continue to praise and worship their God in the midst of extreme hardship, remembering that God is a God of miracles, and nothing is too difficult for Him (Jeremiah 32:17).

Anne D. Zimmerman, M.D.