# Slavery and the Redemption Controversy (c. 1995)

URL: https://allhistories.com/south-sudan/timeline/1995-slavery-and-the-redemption-controversy
Location: Aweil, Northern Bahr el Ghazal
Themes: main-event

Militia raids in Northern Bahr el Ghazal had led to the abduction of thousands of Dinka women and children, who were taken north and forced to work as herders, domestic servants or concubines. The government denied that slavery existed, describing the practice as tribal abduction. From 1995 the Swiss-based Christian Solidarity International and other organisations began buying back abductees through Arab and Dinka intermediaries in SPLA-held areas, paying sums reported as roughly 50 US dollars per person. CSI said it had freed tens of thousands of people by the early 2000s. The campaign attracted strong support from churches and schoolchildren in the United States, and slavery in Sudan became a major issue in American politics. UNICEF and other agencies criticised redemption, arguing that it created a market for abduction, and in 2002 investigative reports alleged that some redemptions had been staged by SPLA officials using local people posing as slaves. An international eminent persons group in 2002 confirmed that abductions and forced servitude were real. The controversy helped mobilise the American constituency behind the Sudan Peace Act and the peace process, while raising lasting questions about the ethics of advocacy. At this point in the timeline (1995–2002), the President of the Sudan was Omar al-Bashir (16 October 1993 – 11 April 2019 (over Southern Sudan until 9 July 2011)). In the South: the Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/A was John Garang (1983 – 30 July 2005).

## Why it matters
The slavery campaign shaped Western perceptions of the war and helped drive US involvement in the peace process.

Ruler at the Time: [Omar al-Bashir](https://allhistories.com/south-sudan/rulers/omar-al-bashir)

Chairman and Commander-in-Chief of the SPLM/A: John Garang (SPLM)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Christian Solidarity International](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Solidarity_International)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Slavery Sudan](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Slavery+Sudan)
- [Wikipedia — Slavery in Sudan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Sudan)
- [Rift Valley Institute](https://riftvalley.net/)
- [Wikipedia — Second Sudanese Civil War (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War)