Christians Under Attack

Sudan Campaign Leaders Return from Juba, Southern Sudan and Darfur

WASHINGTON: A fact-finding team followed-up the Save Darfur Rally in Washington D.C. (April 30) with a visit to Juba and the borderlands of Southern Sudan and Darfur (May 3 - 11). In Juba, they met with President Salva Kiir of Southern Sudan. They then investigated the plight of displaced Darfurians and Dinka returnees - especially from Darfur - interviewed liberated slaves, and delivered 2,000 survival kits and 20 tons of sorghum seed. See photos:

 

Members of the team are: Sudan Campaign Leaders: Joe Madison - Save Darfur Rally M.C., civil rights activist and Radio One talk show host, his wife Sherry Madison; Simon Deng - former Sudanese slave; Dr. John Eibner - Executive Director of CSI (USA); Liora Kasten - Executive Director of the American Anti-Slavery Group.

"These people are living in hell," says Simon Deng.  "Many are Darfurians who are flooding into South Sudan and live in the severest conditions.  They are forgotten refugees who call the trees their home and the leaves their food. They have no shelter, no food, little water, and no medicine.  I saw starvation, disease and destitution everywhere. With no hope in sight, the death rate will be catastrophic in a few months."

"What we saw in Darfur and Southern Sudan is the continuance of genocide without bullets," says Joe Madison. "The thugs in Khartoum continue to try and impose an Islamic culture on Christians and others observing traditional African religioius practices. All of us need to monitor this situation and pressure the U.S. government to guide the Sudanese government impulses toward peace and self-determination for the Southern Sudanese and Darfurians."

Conclusions
* Despite agreements signed by the Government of Sudan, the genocide process continues in both Northern and Southern Sudan.
* Hundreds of thousands of displaced Black Sudanese are in danger of dying this rainy season (May-September) because of continuing violence, and the lack of food, shelter, seed, clean water and medicine.

 

* Tens of thousands of Black Sudanese remain enslaved in Darfur and neighboring Kordofan.
* Promised "peace dividends" have not been delivered by the United States and other nations to Southern Sudan, and are therefore not likely to be delivered to Darfur in the immediate aftermath of the signing on May 5 of a peace agreement between Khartoum and one rebel faction in Darfur..
* The fledgling Government of Southern Sudan is a potential source of stability for Sudan. But its institutional development has been stymied by U.S. policy - e.g., the failure of President Bush to meet with Southern Sudan's President Salva Kiir. (The pledge made by President Bush to Sudan Campaign activists on April 28 to meet with President Kiir raises hope of a positive shift in U.S. policy.) Recommendations
* The U.S. Government and non-governmental donors should cut strangulating bureaucratic red tape and deliver emergency food, seed, survival kits and medicines to vulnerable displaced populations. (Seed must be delivered within three weeks, after which it will be too late to plant in the borderlands of Darfur and Southern Sudan.)
* President Bush should meet President Salva Kiir to establish a rainy season emergency humanitarian aid program and to hasten the delivery of promised "peace dividends", including help to strengthen Southern Sudan's national institutions.
* President Bush should initiate long overdue action to secure the liberation and repatriation of Sudan's forgotten slaves. For Interviews Contact: Joe and Sherry Madison – (202) 373 1445, Simon Deng – (917) 698 5440, Dr. John Eibner – (805) 777 7107, Liora Kasten – (617) 426 8161. Photos at: 
http://www.csi-int.org/sudan_press_release_060515.php M. Sliwa Public Relations, (p) 973-272-2861, (f) 212-202-4453, (e) msliwa@msliwa.com