http://www.persecution.com/news/index.cfm?action=fullstory&newsID=167

July 16, 2002

Young Sudanese boys suffer many atrocities at the hands of miltant Muslim oppressors

From Freedom Now World News

By Maria Sliwa

Sudan, July 15, 2002: During a recent fact finding trip to Southern Sudan, Freedom Now World News discovered overwhelming evidence that young black, boy slaves are repeatedly gang-raped by their Arab masters. While previous reports on slavery have focused mainly on the gang-rape of female slaves, sociologist and investigative reporter, Maria Sliwa received testimony from numerous boy victims of rape.

"This type of sex is very strange to us," said recently redeemed slave Deng Deng. "Many times during rape boys would cry so loudly that the Arabs would stuff rags in their mouths so they could not be heard. I witnessed this often. If you refuse [sex], sometimes they would shoot you." Deng Deng is a Christian who said that as a slave he was often beaten because he would not convert to Islam.

Another recently freed boy slave, Deng Ayuel testified: "I watched the Arabs rape my two sisters and I watched many slave boys being raped as well. They would often take a girl or boy and do whatever they wanted with them sexually. I too was raped many times by my master and his Arab friends."

Perhaps the most graphic account of male rape was given by the freed slave Aleek Mach Deng: "I watched my master Mohammed and four Murahaleen Arabs violently gang-rape a young Dinka slave boy. The boy was screaming and crying a lot. He was bleeding heavily, as he was raped repeatedly. I watched his stomach expand with air with each violent penetration. The boy kept screaming. I was very frightened, and knew I was likely next. Suddenly the boy's screams stopped as he went completely unconscious. My master took him to the hospital. I never saw him again."

Many of the redeemed slaves told Sliwa that in order to avoid rape, male slaves would try to escape but were hunted down like animals by their masters. The punishment for resisting rape is often severe beatings, death or limb amputation.

Sliwa noted that the knowledge of male slave rape is widespread and has come to the attention of community leaders in Southern Sudan. "Many of the freed male slaves come to the chiefs and tell us they were repeatedly raped by their Arab captors," said Nhial Chan Nhial, Paramount Chief of Akon. "This affects their minds badly. They are subject to fits of crying, mental problems and are often unable to marry later on in life." Yet, in the ongoing genocidal Sudanese civil war, most are helpless to do anything.

International law recognizes both slavery and rape in the context of armed conflict as crimes against humanity. The International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia has recently convicted Serbian soldiers for committing these offenses. Freedom Now World News is calling on the U.S. Government to investigate this aspect of the Government of Sudan's declared jihad against the Black Africans of Southern Sudan and press for the establishment of an International Criminal Tribunal for Sudan.