American-led slavery mission due to report in May

The US-led eminent persons group on slavery, abduction and forced servitude in Sudan expects to have developed some practical ideas on what can be done about these impediments to ending the country's civil war by late May, the US Department of State reported on Friday.

The establishment of the group in late March was a follow-up to US peace envoy John Danforth's proposition to the warring parties of four confidence-building measures in November 2001. In these he included an end to the taking of slaves and abduction of civilians.
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"Of course, the government of Sudan does not accept the characterisation that slavery does exist in Sudan, but it does acknowledge there are abductions and forced servitude," the State Department on Friday quoted the mission leader, Penn Kemble, as saying before his departure on the 10-day trip to Sudan on 8 April.

Kemble, senior scholar at the US-based human rights organisation Freedom House, is leading the eight-member team to explore the issue, following an agreement by the Sudanese government and rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) with Danforth in December.

In addition to Kemble and another American, George Moose, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, the team includes members from Britain, Italy, France and Norway.

"If there is some prospect of resolving the range of issues and helping the Sudanese achieve a just peace, this [mission] could be something of tremendous value and contribute to the normalisation of the situation elsewhere in the region," the State Department on Friday quoted Kemble as saying.
[see http://usinfo.state.gov/products/washfile/]

The group has been asked to "recommend steps that can be taken by the parties to the conflict, and the international community, to end such abuses", according to the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher.

While recognising that some positive steps had been taken with respect to abductions (notably the establishment of the government-supported Committee for the Eradication of Abduction of Women and Children), UN Special Rapporteur of the Situation of Human Rights in Sudan Gerhart Baum reported in November that "there continues to be a need for a massive advocacy campaign" and a strong government stand on the issue.
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Baum referred particularly in a report in November 2001 to the negative role of nomadic Arab tribes (mainly the Baqqarah, Zaghawah and Misariyyah) from which government formed murahilin (nomadic) militias, and which, he said, were deeply implicated in abductions and the targeting of civilians in war.

"The government needs to exercise all its influence on the murahilin, who are responsible for human rights abuses, such as mass killings, torture, rape and abductions." The authorities in Khartoum shared responsibility, Baum said, because the Sudanese army tolerated these abuses, integrated the murahilin in its military campaigns and, in part, financed them.

Baum's report also referred to information he had received that forcible recruitment by the SPLA was continuing, despite an SPLM/A programme for demobilising child soldiers.

The current US-led mission team on slavery, abduction and forced servitude should be ready to report to US Secretary of State Colin Powell after its second trip to northern and southern Sudan (planned for mid-May), according to Kemble. The eight "eminent persons" are currently inside Sudan on their first trip.

"I think the problem of setting up a system that monitors human rights practices and that establishes some accountability with some appropriate authorities is one of the things we'll be looking at," Washington on Friday quoted Kemble as saying.

"It's not our place to set up such a system, but to advise the people there on how it can be done. We have worked in these areas before and we may be able to provide some useful suggestions," he added.