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* Christine Gardner's "Sudan Slave Redemption" [Special News Report, Aug. 9] well illustrated the complexities of the Sudanese slavery issue. Slavery is wrong. World Relief applauds and supports abolition movements to end slavery in Sudan, but to truly facilitate churches working together, World Relief must honor the well-thought-out priorities of the Sudanese church.

August 9, 1999 Christianity Today

While slavery is an issue for them, it is currently not the primary one. Ending the war that has claimed 2 million lives, keeping another 2.4 million from starving to death, and teaching them about Jesus are the top concerns they repeatedly voice to me.

As Pastor Arkangelo Wani Lemi observed to me while I watched death happen, "My people will not starve to death. We have brothers and sisters in the West; we are part of a family." Making that a reality has become part of the passion of my life, for loving Jesus means that I cannot stand by and let my brothers and sisters die. That is why my oldest son is in Sudan today and why we must hear the heart cry of God's people. Fight slavery, yes; but save lives and share Jesus as well.

Clive Calver, President
World Relief
Carol Stream, Ill.

Christian Solidarity International is the voice of the voiceless, their advocates. Thus, while it is not possible to buy the freedom of the tens of thousands that are enslaved, advocacy is an important part of CSI's work. They go to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva and New York to testify about what they have seen and pressure the government of Sudan to mend its ways. While Westerners and some Christians might find it immoral to buy and sell people, in Sudan it is the only way loved ones can be reunited with family members.

Theresa Perry-McNeil
Christian Solidarity International–USA
Littleton, Colo.

* It would be tragic if your article slowed CSI's program of emancipating women and children from the hands of monsters. Slave redemption critics whom Christine Gardner interviewed are people who have chosen to become personal and political enemies of CSI.

For years, UNICEF ignored UN reports about black women and children slaves in Sudan. CSI's emancipations of thousands embarrassed them. Under pressure, the agency announced it would combat slavery in Sudan, but days later UNICEF retracted that promise, admitting it can't act without Khartoum's permission! Meanwhile, as UNICEF refuses to re deem slaves in Sudan, they help mothers in India buy back their children from slavers. UNICEF says the world should solve the "root causes" of the war before they can take children out of bondage. This is morally obtuse and is put forth only to cover UNICEF's cowardly submission to Khartoum's UN power.

The American Anti-Slavery Group supports CSI, in part because 40 village elders and senior spokesmen from South Sudan are publicly asking CSI to continue its work. We are a multi-ethnic grassroots organization of Christians, Jews, and Muslims, Africans and African Americans. We will not leave people in chains. No matter what.

Charles Jacobs, President
Anti-Slavery Group
Boston, Mass.

Does CT, like others, see the suffering of the Sudanese slaves as a "trendy issue" for Americans? Or is it that fear of the diffusal of financial resources lurks behind statements coming from representatives of evangelical Christian organizations?

Had CT researched more thoroughly, it would have found there are tens of thousands of chattel slaves in Sudan. Many are Christians. They are captured in devastating raids, beaten, threatened with execution, forced to convert to Islam, and made to work without pay. Many of the girls and women are repeatedly raped and have their genitals excised to gratify the sexual tastes of their masters.

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October 4 1999, Vol. 43, No. 11