More than 10,000 slaves believed to be missing

KHARTOUM, Sudan — An organization researching the slavery situation in Sudan claims to have collected more than 10,000 names of missing slaves. According to the Rift Valley Institute, tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians who were forced into slavery are missing. Civic leaders in northern Bahr El Ghazal, the area of southern Sudan most severely affected by slave raids, told the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) that more than 200,000 women and children have been enslaved by the military of Islamic northern Sudan and its allied militias since the beginning of the Sudanese civil war in 1983. The fates of the 10,000 missing slaves, most of them from the Christian and animist south, are unknown, and the AASG is hoping that the announcement will spur the U.S. government and non-governmental bodies into action in stopping the human rights tragedy in Sudan. The Bush Administration is currently involved in negotiating peace between the government stationed in Khartoum and rebels from the south.