Escaped slaves protest at UN Millennium Summit

People claiming to be escaped slaves from Sudan have demanded the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has joined heads of state from around the world for the UN Millennium Summit.

In a statement at a news conference organised by the American Anti-Slavery Group on the eve of the summit, Abu Bak a woman claiming to be a native of Southern Sudan seized by government militiamen as a slave at the age of 10 in 1986, said: “For over 10 years, General Bashir has presided over a regime that has enslaved tens of thousands of civilians. On behalf of those still silenced in slavery, I demand Bashir be brought justice for crimes against humanity.”

A spokesperson at the Sudanese mission to the United Nations rejected these allegations. “These are baseless accusations,” the spokesperson told IRIN. “Sudan is an open country and anyone can come and have a look to see the situation for themselves. The government believes in peaceful co-existence between ethnic cultures and groups.”

Mohamed El Gadi, chair of the Group against Torture in Sudan (GATS) who was protesting outside the UN headquarters in New York on Thursday told IRIN that the people of Sudan were living under the rule of an “Islamist torture Government” and an “unelected dictator.”

The spokesperson from the Sudanese mission rejected these claims. “President al-Bashir was elected four years ago with 70 % of the vote and is seeking re-election this year,” the spokesman told IRIN.
This is the second time that al-Bashir has visited the United Nations headquarters in New York. The previous occasion as in 1992 according to the spokesperson.