Forget Not Sudan

Forget Not Sudan
May 22, 2004

Forget Not Sudanby Le Anne ClausenSome readers of our team's reports may wonder about the update from ourtime in Jordan. We wrote about our encounters with Palestinian refugees,Filipino and Indian house servants at church, and other people who arenot Iraqi and were not discussing Iraq. A teammate asked me, "So whywrite about it on our list? What does it have to do with Iraq?"This is why:I spoke with a Sudanese man who was staying in the same hotel as our teamand was trying to find work in Jordan. He told me, "In every Arabcountry, you will find Sudanese people, because there is nowork for us."He also said he had been in the Sudanese military but desertedbecause he didn't like what they were doing. "The government sends youfrom problem to problem, and you are killing the people. It's not good."He added that military salaries were not enough to live on at fiftydollars per month. "If you have a family, the moneyis gone after ten days." He said that military service is mandatory forboth men and women, before they can go to university. "Evensmall children are fighting in the military now," he said, adding that hethought the government was particularly bad because of this policy.He also spoke of women's conditions in Sudan, saying "Women have nofreedom now. They can't do anything or go anywhere. Many women begothers to marry them long enough to get out of the country so they canfind work and have a life." He also spoke of many women being raped andimpregnated, especially women who are taken to the south of the countrywhere the conflict is worst. "It is very bad," he said.Although of African ethnicity, the man spoke fluent Arabic. Heexplained this was the language of commerce in the capital citywhere he lived. He also explained how a prominent political leader inhis country encouraged the people into repression of womenseveral years ago, and filled the government with his followers.However, the leader decided that he had been wrong and tried tochange the government back to what it once was. His followersbecame angry and would not let him.Several larger human rights groups and UN officials have recently namedArab militias backed by the Sudanese government as responsible forintentionally starving African-descent nationals and a resulting massiverefugee crisis. I would not have known about this had I not by chancetuned in to a documentary about the crisis on the radio one afternoon.Sudan is not far from Palestine or Iraq, where I have lived these pastfour years. However, only recently have I become aware of the ethniccleansing in the southern provinces of the country. Iconfess to having 'tunnel vision' as a field worker, limited to thecountries in which CPT works.Although I know CPT is too small to be everywhere just yet, Sudan hasbeen on my conscience ever since. Let us not forget them, for they areour neighbors also.