Posted on 10/22/2003 12:12:35 AM PDT by miltonim
Nairobi, Kenya (CNSNews.com) - Anti-slavery activists are hopeful that the finalization of a Sudanese peace deal will bring an end to the atrocity of modern-day slavery that has taken place in the war-torn country.
Peace talks between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) have entered what may be their final stage in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.
"This marks a significant opportunity to end slavery in Sudan," said Beth Herzfeld of the London-based anti slavery group, Anti-Slavery International.
ASI estimates that 14,000 people, mainly women and children, have been abducted and forced into slavery since 1986.
Pro-government militias, often with the assistance of the national army, have carried out raids in villages in southern Sudan, according to the campaigners.
They have abducted civilians and taken them to the north, where they are employed as slaves or as sexual concubines.
"The war has also prevented the safe return of rescued abductees and slaves to their villages in the [south]," ASI said in a statement.
Ending abduction and the use of forced labor need to be an integral part of any peace agreement reached between Khartoum and the rebel SPLA, it added.
"The peace talks are a welcome step. An end to the civil war means a real chance for both sides to work together and within humanitarian and relief groups to end the system of slavery that has been allowed to flourish in Sudan. We must not allow this opportunity to be missed," said director Mary Cunneen.
ASI said the transitional unity government to be set up under the peace deal should act to stop the abductions, state publicly that the abuses are illegal, and develop laws and penalties to protect people and punish offenders.
Anti-slavery campaigners say slaves taken to the north face hard labor, maltreatment, sexual abuse and Islamic indoctrination.
Some groups have worked actively to purchase the freedom of south Sudanese enslaved by Muslim gangs, although not all relief groups have supported the idea. Some argue that it perpetuated the traffic by increasing the value assigned to slaves by the traders.
The 20-year-old civil war has pitted Arab Muslim northerners against Christian and animist African southerners.
Political, economic and social spheres of government are currently controlled by northerners.
The peace agreement set to be signed shortly has a provision for southerners to form their own state after six years of transitional government, following a referendum on independence.
The final round of talks began in a mood of optimism.
Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said he believed a peace agreement would be concluded "before the end of this year," while SPLA leader John Garang told reporters here he was ready to remain engaged in the talks "as long as it takes to find peace."
Both parties have agreed on how to handle security issues during the transitional period.
Some SPLA militias will be integrated into the national army while joint forces will be established to provide security to specific areas still under dispute.
The key remaining issues are wealth and political sharing, and the religious status of Khartoum, which is currently governed under Islamic law.
The rebels want a secular national capital.
During early negotiations, the SPLA wanted 40 percent of oil revenues to be used for the reconstruction of the war-battered south during the transitional period.
For its part, Khartoum wanted 85 percent of the revenues to be used to run the unitary government, another 10 percent for reconstruction of oil-rich areas, and five percent for reconstruction elsewhere.
An estimated two million people have died during the war and accompanying famine.
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