wfn.org | Episcopalian's hear plight of the Sudanese

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

99-014
Sudanese lawyer brings grim message of human rights abuses to U.S. 
audiences

by James Solheim
(ENS) Leaning across the podium in a conference room at the 
Episcopal Church Center in New York, the tall, distinguished 
lawyer from the Sudan said, "It is good to know that you have 
friends. And to know that the number is growing as more seek 
understanding of the problems we face, wanting to know what is 
happening."

The message Abel Alier brought to his audiences during a 
nine-day visit to churches and human rights advocates in America 
was a grim one as tensions mount between the Islamic government 
based in Khartoum and the armed resistance in the largely 
Christian southern part of the Sudan. Describing the estimated 
million Sudanese "internally displaced" in the north, Alier said, 
"They are in the wilderness," facing problems common to refugees 
elsewhere in the world, without any international support.

The churches, especially the Roman Catholics and 
Episcopalians, "recognize this plight and know the geography of 
this wilderness," he said. They are also united by the 
persecution. In trying to provide desperately needed health care 
and basic education the churches are "in full confrontation with 
the government," said Alier, a former vice president of the 
republic and former president of the High Executive Council in the 
Southern Region of the Sudan. He is also a member of the Permanent 
Court of International Arbitration at the Hague.

"The government has a different agenda," Alier pointed 
out, demolishing schools and prayer centers in a deliberate 
attempt to create "disarray" in the displaced communities. And it 
tries to "criminalize" anyone who attempts to help the refugees, 
most recently charging 26 Roman Catholic priests with offenses 
against the state. Alier, who is defending the priests, said that 
it is clear now that three of the 26 were tortured to death, two 
escaped and the others face trial in a military court. If 
convicted, they could face the death penalty.

Africa's largest country, the Sudan has enjoyed only brief 
intervals without armed conflict since its independence in 1956. 
The military regime in the north continues to brutally repress 
opposition and is engaged in what one exile has called "a war of 
visions." Yet its persistent human rights abuses do not demand 
the attention of the international community, distracted by 
conflicts in which they have more at stake, according to those who 
have studied the situation. 

Alier said that there is some talk of a political settlement 
because the government realizes that war is costly, that it 
isolates them from the international community, and that "the 
oppressed populace is a ticking bomb." Encouraged by the "growing 
awareness of the church which is helping to deepen the faith of 
the churches in the south," he argued that "there is still a need 
for greater solidarity, partnership and cooperation with churches 
worldwide."

When asked about the issue of slavery, Alier said that it 
has a long history in some parts of the Sudan and "the government 
gives support" to those who traffic in human beings. "They kill 
men, take women and children, send them north, and even as far as 
some of the Gulf States," he said. The government even buys 
children for use as soldiers in the future, often returning them 
to fight against their own people.

Describing the layers of complexity in Sudanese society, 
Alier said that the war is "racial, religious and cultural. The 
government is on an Islamic crusade." Moderates are either in 
exile or attempting to shape political opposition. Unless the 
people are convinced that diversity has a place in their society, 
the future does not hold much hope, he admitted. "In a free 
society diversity is perceived as positive."

--James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office of 
News and Information.

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens