James Aguer 2006 Anti-Slavery Award acceptance speech
In the name of God Almighty who created Heaven and Earth and all human beings with different skin colours but as equals. Amen.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good evening.
On behalf of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs and on my own behalf, I am delighted to receive the award from Anti-Slavery International for this year. I thank Anti-Slavery International for its continued efforts to highlight the important issue of abduction of Southern Sudanese women and children during the two-decade long civil war. I would like to seize this opportunity to shed some light on this inhuman and degrading practice, which caused so much suffering to our people; thousands of these innocent people are still suffering even at this very moment.
Abduction of women and children in Southern Sudan started in early 1986, during the era of the last democratically elected government. Most of the raids and abductions took place in the Bahr el Ghazal region and they involved members of the Dinka tribe. The abductions took place during the civil war between the Sudan Government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). In our opinion, the abductions, which were carried out by Murahaleen militia, were politically motivated. Their purpose was to weaken the SPLA and the SPLM, which were predominantly Dinka at the time.
After the Government of National Salvation seized power in a military coup in 1989, abductions not only continued, but in fact increased significantly. Fear among the civilian population increased because these abductions were accompanied by a host of other atrocities, including the burning down of villages, wanton killing of innocent people, and looting of cattle and other property.
It is important to note that apart from Murahaleen militia, the Sudan Armed Forces and other militia groups, such as Popular Defence Force (PDF), were also involved in these raids and abductions. Abduction of women and children continued unabated during the 1990s until May 2002. Since then they stopped due to the progress achieved at the peace talks between the Government for National Salvation and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement.
We estimate that between 14,000 and 20,000 people were abducted during this period and most of them were transported to areas in Western Kordofan and Southern Darfur, where they were forced to work without pay. All of the forces involved in raiding villages and abducting women and children – Murahaleen militia, Mujahideen militia, the Popular Defence Force and Sudan Armed Forces – had a common interest: they used their victims as unpaid labour such as carrying out domestic work, looking after cattle, collecting water and firewood. They raped women and girls or they forced these victims to marry them or their relatives.
I come from a village called Ajok west of Aweil Town in the Bahr el Ghazal region of Southern Sudan. I remember a fierce fight erupting between the Sudan People's Liberation Army and various militia groups in my village in 1986. As a result of this battle, the vast majority of our local people – including myself – were displaced. For the first time in my life, I was forced to desert my village and went to Aweil. Then I travelled to Wau and eventually to Khartoum, just like many other displaced citizens. Some of my fellow local community members, who were displaced, went to neighbouring regions of Kordofan and Darfur.
In 1987, we started to receive information about some women and children who had been abducted during the battles and taken to Western Kordofan and Southern Darfur. Then a delegation made up of the relatives of the abductees arrived in Khartoum and met me and other Dinka chiefs. We had a big gathering which involved 100 people and we discussed what could be done. I proposed that we register the names of the abducted women and children and record any essential information. The meeting accepted this proposal and six chiefs, including myself, were elected to oversee this work on 6 June 1989. This step heralded the formation of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs under my chairmanship.
The Committee then started its work in earnest. Our mandate was to return abducted women and children. The Committee recorded the names of 14,000 women and children abducted between 10 June 1989 and 1997. Unfortunately, the Committee faced a number of significant challenges. Some members of the Committee were arrested and detained. Three others were killed in Khartoum, Darfur and other states in Northern Sudan because of government opposition to the work of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs.
In this difficult and dangerous environment, we needed international solidarity and support in order to continue our work. Therefore, the Committee of Dinka Chiefs informed the embassies of the European and African countries and the United States, which were present in Sudan, about these challenges. We received support from, and I would like to seize this opportunity to thank, the British Embassy, Save the Children UK, the German Embassy, the Dutch Embassy and all the international non-governmental organisations especially the Swedish Save the Children Fund, Sudan Council of Churches, Christian Solidarity International and the Rift Valley Institute.
The Dinka Committee estimates that a further 6,000 people were abducted into slavery between 1997 and 2002. However, I am delighted to inform you that out of all the people abducted into slavery during the civil war, 4,500 people have so far been freed and returned to their villages safely, including thousands of children who were born into captivity.
Let me tell you about Adut Jel, one of the people we have been able to help. Adut is from Aweil town, in Southern Sudan. When the civil war started, Adut escaped the violence in Aweil and went to another town, Malek Alel, with her three children, where she hoped they would be safe. But one night, Adut was woken by the sound of gun shots. The militia was carrying out a raid. Some villagers were killed, others were abducted. Adut was taken with her children.
They were taken to Southern Darfur by horse and on foot, a journey that took 20 days. Adut's son was four and her daughters were three and two years old. They weren't allowed to talk. Her children kept asking why they were leaving. She told them they had to keep quiet or they would be killed.
When they reached Darfur, they were put to work as labourers for several different masters, weeding and harvesting vegetables, cultivating watermelon, millet and groundnut. They had to get up at 5am to work in the garden, after which they would grind the millet and eat. They only had plastic sheets on which to sleep under a shelter that was open to the wind and rain, while the masters were in their houses.
Adut and the others were given no money for their work. They were guarded to make sure they worked hard and at first they were beaten. After the first year the beatings stopped, but they were still guarded so they could not escape. Adut's children also had to work as soon as they were old enough, taking the sheep and cows out for grazing. Adut thinks her ordeal lasted about seven years.
The Dinka Committee identified Adut and released her about three years ago. We brought her to a transit camp in Aweil and reunited her with her family.
Adut told me that she is very happy now because she has been released from a life of hardship. She said that it is the worst thing to be taken from your home to someone else's place and have to work for them.
The achievements of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs also include raising public awareness about the issue in Sudan and abroad. This resulted in international organisations campaigning for the resolution of the problem of the abduction of women and children into slavery. Secondly, the Government of Sudan appointed the Committee for Eradication of the Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC) in 1999, due to the efforts of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs and continuous external pressure.
Currently, the Committee of Dinka Chiefs is co-operating with CEAWC to find a just solution to this complex problem. Thirdly, the Committee of Dinka Chiefs collected information related to the abducted women and children including their location and brought the abductees to reception centres both in the South and in Khartoum. I continue to use my own home in Khartoum as a reception centre for released abductees who are believed to have relatives in the area with whom they could be reunited. When financial resources become available, the Committee will arrange to return the abductees to their villages and families. These are significant achievements.
However, I believe more needs to be done.
On behalf of the Committee of Dinka Chiefs, I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to the international community. First, I urge that you support the Committee to enable us to return abducted women and children to their villages, families and relatives. I also urge you to contribute to and help us with establishing projects to rehabilitate and re-integrated the abducted women and children into their original local communities as well as the provision of the essential services to meet their needs. Finally, I urge all governments, international NGOs and the United Nations to exert maximal efforts to prevent recurrence of such a human tragedy in other areas of Sudan, such as Darfur, and more widely in Africa or the rest of the world.
Slavery is an inhuman and degrading practice which must not be allowed to persist in the 21st century. We must put an end to slavery. This is a moral imperative.
Thank you.