Minnesotans mark abducted Sudanese girl's 2nd birthday with hope, call for negotiations
Jan. 15, 2008 (SAINT PAUL, Minn.) – Minnesota students and officials gathered Monday to
commemorate the second birthday of a girl who is still missing more than three months after she and her sister were abducted in South Sudan. The group praised the Government of South Sudan for placing a priority on recovering an estimated 400 abducted children with a military operation launched two weeks ago. But amid reports that the abducting bandits have largely retreated, taking the children with them, the Minnesota group urged South Sudan officials to negotiate for their release.
"We are grateful that President Salva Kiir and the Government of South
Sudan have declared it a priority to recover abducted children. They deserve credit for that," said Robyn Skrebes of St. Paul, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota and chair of the student-led campaign against child abduction in South Sudan.
"With respect, we renew our request to the government of South Sudan to attempt a nonviolent
approach. Rather than chase the armed groups around – or worse, confront them and risk the lives of the abducted children – instead, reach out to them."
Following the speeches, Skrebes symbolically blew out candles on a
birthday cake that bore the message, "Happy Birthday, Ajak: Not
Forgotten." (Download photos at www.save-yar.org/photos )
Ajak Achiek Mading and her 3-year-old sister Yar are the nieces of Gabriel
Kou Solomon, a St. Paul resident and graduate student at the University of
Minnesota's Twin Cities campus. The girls were abducted on Oct. 3, 2007, in
Solomon's native Sudan; their great-grandmother was killed and their
grandmother injured in the abduction. Solomon's classmates founded the
Save Yar Campaign, later adopted by the U. of M. Human Rights Program.
Groups of bandits are held responsible for abducting more than 400 young
children from three states in South Sudan in the last two years alone
because of their value as future brides, but until recently the crimes
were overshadowed by other security problems in Sudan, which is still
recovering from a long civil war.
Aides to U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Rep. Betty
McCollum of St. Paul, and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minneapolis spoke at
the event, praising South Sudan's positive steps to end child abduction,
encouraging nonviolent steps, and offering the United States' support.
"Congressman Ellison is standing behind the Save Yar Campaign and its
efforts to end child abduction in Sudan. He has contacted the Sudan
Programs Group at the U.S. Department of State to express his deep concern
for Yar and Ajak, asking that all possible efforts be used so they may be
found and safely reunited with their family without delay," said Alison
Harris, community representative for Ellison. "Congressman Ellison
strongly believes that the ongoing human trafficking and child abduction
issues in Sudan and other parts of the world can no longer be tolerated or
ignored."
All four members of Congress deserve credit for influencing the South
Sudan government to prioritize ending child abduction, said Daniel Lynx
Bernard, coordinator of the Save Yar Campaign. South Sudan President Kiir
agreed to meet with the student group in Washington, D.C., in November
only after urging from the Minnesota delegation.
The U. of M. campaign also praised the South Sudanese official Sultan
Ismail Konyi for supporting the government's effort to disarm the
abducting groups. Konyi is of the same ethnicity, Murle, as the armed
groups held responsible for the wave of abductions, but he and other Murle
leaders have denounced child abduction. Innocent Murle were injured and
killed in December during retaliations over the abductions. The university
group appealed to Sultan Konyi to work with local Murle leaders to locate
Yar, Ajak, and other young children who have been violently abducted, and
to negotiate for their peaceful release.
Multiple reports from South Sudan indicate that the South Sudan military
(the Sudanese People's Liberation Army or SPLA) advanced into the
stronghold of the armed Murle groups, Pibor County, two weeks ago.
According to a reporter for the Sudan Tribune web site, some of the groups
voluntarily released 73 children of Anuak and Nuer ethnicity (Yar and Ajak
are ethnic Dinka), and the SPLA's goal is to recover all abducted
children in February. But multiple reports indicate that most of the armed
groups retreated to other remote locations in South Sudan or across the
border into Ethiopia.
The student movement and the response of members of Congress demonstrate
that Minnesotans are prepared to speak out for the protection of human
rights in far-away places, said Dr. Barbara Frey, director of the U. of M.
Human Rights Program. "Minnesota is the human rights state," Frey
said.
Also attending Monday's event were Minnesota state Rep. Erin Murphy of
St. Paul; state Senator Mee Moua of St. Paul; Catherine Ryan, aide to
state Sen. Sandy Pappas of St. Paul; Nathan Hansen, aide to state Sen. Dan
Sparks of Austin; and Jill Anderson of Calvary Baptist Church in
Roseville.
For more information on this case and child abduction, see
www.save-yar.org.
