30 years of slave liberation in South Sudan

In 1983, the Arab- and Muslim-dominated government of Sudan imposed Islamic law across the multi-religious country. Black African southern Sudan, which follows Christian and traditionalist religions, opposed this and took up armed resistance.

In response to the rebellion in the south, the Sudanese government began to arm Arab Muslim militias and use them as an instrument of its counter-insurgency policy. These militias, sometimes supported by the Sudanese army, regularly raided the borderlands of southern Sudan. They routinely burned villages, stole cows, goats and other movable property, shot men, and captured women and children as slaves.

The war would last until 2005. Tens of thousands of Christians and animists in the south were killed by pro-government Islamist militias or deported to the north as slaves.

SI’s early approach in Sudan was two-pronged.

First, it bolstered local peace arrangements between Arab and Dinka communities that had agreed to stop raiding each other. CSI sponsored peace conferences to strengthen these agreements, creating safer channels for enslaved women and children to be returned home.

Second, CSI embarked on a major anti-slavery campaign internationally, shining a media spotlight on Sudan’s slave raids and urging policymakers in North America and Europe to act. By 1999, CSI’s advocacy had helped force the issue into the international spotlight. That year, the intense publicity generated by CSI compelled UNICEF to officially acknowledge — for the very first time — that children and their mothers were indeed being enslaved in Sudan. This admission was a breakthrough, as the United Nations had previously avoided the term “slavery” for political reasons.

Sudan was angered by the slave retrieval work of CSI and tried to hinder it. In 1999, Sudan succeeded in having CSI’s consultative status at the United Nations in Geneva withdrawn, in a blow to CSI’s advocacy work. The Sudanese motion was backed by all Islamic states, plus friendly countries including China and Russia. Only the United States actively defended CSI’s work. Not until 2023 did CSI finally regain its United Nations Economic and Social Council accreditation.

As the retrieval operations became increasingly professional, the number of slaves freed rose dramatically. Between the years 2000 and 2003, around 2,000 slaves were freed in each operation. The CSI team would struggle to laboriously photograph and log the full details of all the many thousands returned home every year.

In 2000, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Susan Rice visited Sudan and met with freed slaves, calling the ongoing enslavement a “heinous” practice and pledging the U.S. government’s commitment to stamp it out. Two years later, President George W. Bush signed the U.S. Sudan Peace Act into law. This made reaching an end to the civil war in Sudan a U.S. foreign policy priority.

In 2005 the civil war came to an end with the signing in January of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government of Sudan and the southern rebels. The CPA stopped the abduction of slaves in southern Sudan. However, it made no provision for the liberation of those who had been captured there and taken as slaves to the north before the signing of the CPA. “The issue was seen as too sensitive,” commented Eibner, in an interview to mark the 25^th anniversary of the start of CSI’s slave liberation work. “Of course, we were disappointed. Yet, the war was over and with it the slave raids. That was a huge relief.”

By this time, after a decade of CSI’s work, local community leaders had recorded over 80,000 slaves freed through CSI-supported networks since 1995. Yet many more remained in bondage.

Since 2005, every slave freed by CSI receives a dairy goat, in addition to a sack of sorghum and a start pack of essentials. Not only does the goat provide milk; it is also an economic asset that can be traded for other items.

Following the end of the civil war, South Sudan finally gained its independence in 2011. More than 98% voted in favor of independence in the referendum. CSI’s John Eibner and Gunnar Wiebalck were among the invited guests at the celebrations held on July 9. However, the Nuba Mountains and Southern Blue Nile regions, with their large Christian populations, remained part of the Republic of Sudan and continue to be targets of the Sudanese military’s counterinsurgency campaigns and persecution.

In January 2013, Franco Majok took over the project management from Gunnar Wiebalck, who had attended every slave liberation since 1995 and made a total of 110 visits to Sudan/South Sudan.

Majok is a Dinka Christian from the area of southern Sudan affected by slavery. One of his own nieces was abducted in 1985 and has never been found. He gives this as one of the factors that motivated him to join in the slave liberation work. “For me, the work is a vocation,” Majok says. “My niece’s fate spurs me on to keep going until all South Sudanese slaves are freed.”

With the start of a new civil war in Sudan, CSI expanded its humanitarian aid distribution from South Sudan to the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions of Sudan. There CSI helps people facing famine, including many who have been displaced by the war.

As CSI marks its 30th year of slave liberation efforts, the organization remains steadfast in its mission, partnering with underground Arab “slave retrievers” to secure freedom for approximately 1,500 South Sudanese annually. This sustained commitment has led to the liberation of over 160,000 individuals since 1995.

Yet the work continues, as estimates suggest tens of thousands still remain in bondage across Sudan. Among these are not only those originally abducted during the civil war, but also a second generation—children born into slavery, many conceived through sexual violence. CSI’s pledge remains: to continue until “the last slave is free.”