By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

POCHALLA, Sudan — Hundreds of girls and boys in south Sudan continue to be abducted and forced into slavery as part of a serious of bloody clashes between rival groups. The United Nations estimates that at least 370 children have been snatched in south Sudan during inter-ethnic violence this year alone, but other officials warn the total could be far larger.

“The numbers of children taken over the years could go into thousands,” said Kuol Manyang, the governor of Jonglei, one of the hardest-hit areas. “Often there are over 200 children abducted every year.” Clashes between cow-herding neighbors in south Sudan erupt frequently, often sparked by cattle rustling disputes over grazing or in revenge for previous attacks. Boys are stolen to herd the cattle, while girls are valuable for the future dowry of cows they will earn, the communities say.

“They come with guns and steal our children, then kill the rest of us,” said Aballa Abich, a tired-looking mother waiting for food aid deliveries in the troubled state of Jonglei. “Day or night they can attack. We are frightened to let our children out of our sight,” added Abich, who comes from the Anyuak people of Pochalla, one of several peoples in the ethnically divided region. Some grieving parents even fear the gunmen might include their own children, snatched years earlier and now used as expendable foot soldiers.

These small-scale battles have grown in frequency and size in the remote and swampy Southern Sudan region which remains rich with automatic weapons from the 22-year civil war between north and south Sudan. A series of bloody raids this year has left many people in shock, and there has been a sharp increase in attacks apparently deliberately targeting children.

The civil war ended in January 2005, but two decades of conflict bequeathed a legacy of bitter ethnic divisions between those who fought for the south’s splintered rebel factions, and those used as proxy militiamen by the north. Some two million people died and four million were left homeless in a conflict that often shattered traditional hierarchies of authority.

Young men who grew up in conflict want the herds of cattle for their marriage dowry. “If you don’t have cattle you can’t marry, and the amount the families demand has been growing higher since the war ended,” said Othow Okoti, a youth leader in Pochalla. “So the easy way is to abduct children, then sell them on for cows,” he added, shaking his head in disgust.

Authorities recently freed 29 children and jailed four men for abducting them. “I was forced to work with the cattle for four months,” said Omot Ochalla, a 12-year-old boy grabbed in a cross-border raid in the Gambella region of Ethiopia. “I was not treated well,” he added quietly, now safe in a child trauma centre in Juba, the capital of semi-autonomous south Sudan, waiting with others for their families to be traced.

Some people accuse the Murle tribe of leading the abductions, claiming that members of the warlike but marginalized group are infertile because of sexually transmitted diseases, a myth based on ignorance and fear rather than evidence. Officials however have warned that the practice is spreading to other groups, in a worrying spiral of revenge attacks. “The Nuer are now taking the children of the Murle, because they think that will make the Murle release their children back,” said Manyang. “We are working to stop this, and we will launch a disarmament campaign to take the guns out of the hands of the people.”

More than 2,000 people have died and 250,000 have been displaced in inter-tribal violence across the south this year, the United Nations says. It is a higher rate of violent deaths than in Sudan’s war-torn western region of Darfur. “We have survived war and hunger for many, many years,” Mary Ojulo said. “But taking the children is the worst thing someone can do.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Terror of the Child Snatchers of South Sudan – 8 December 2009

The International – Sudanese People’s Liberation Army Agrees to End Use of Child Soldiers – 8 December 2009

Arab times- Terror of the Child Snatchers of South Sudan – 7 December 2009

Jonglei State News – Gun Men Kill Three, Abduct Six Children in Jonglei’s Bor County – 21 November 2009

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands– Last week saw more developments in the trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor.  Defense attorneys for Charles Taylor were able to receive a favorable order from the judges for the court. Additionally prosecutors were able to get another admission from Taylor, while also receiving more denials to their allegations.

The judges ordered that the prosecution disclose to the defense all new documents they intend to use in their cross-examination of Charles Taylor. The presiding judge, Justice Richard Lussick said that, “the prosecution’s piecemeal disclosure of individual documents was unacceptable.” The order came in response to the prosecution’s request to use “new evidence” in the form of documents to impeach Taylor’s credibility as a witness in his own defense. The court, in it’s decision, ordered that the documents would be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The court further said that all documents which have probative value to the guilt of Taylor must be disclosed to his defense before they could be used by the prosecution for cross-examining Taylor.

In the prosecution’s continuation of their cross-examination of Taylor, they questioned Taylor about the source of the wealth and assets he had accrued during his time in office.  In response to the question, Taylor explained he received contributions of one million dollars from Taiwan, and 500,000 dollars from Libya during 1996-1997, that went toward his presidential campaign. When asked why the Taiwanese government would give him such an amount, Taylor said it was likely for public relations reasons. He said they developed an interest in him out of concern that China would block their interest in Liberia.  When asked to explain Libya’s contribution, he did not have any answer.

Prosecutors followed these questions with inquires about how he currently supports himself financially.  His response was that he has friends, along with other individuals who “help him put food on the table.” He denied the prosecution’s suggestions that he was involved in various forms of business, or that he had bank accounts opened in different places under different names. The prosecution also asked him how he supported himself financially while he was exiled in Nigeria. Taylor explained, “When I left Liberia, I was fully supported by the Nigerian government. Every month, the Nigerian government gave me subsistence.” When the prosecution provided documents from the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that discredited Taylor’s claim he received money from Nigeria, he simply dismissed the document. The prosecution’s inquires into Taylor’s finances stem from their belief that the wealth and assets he accumulated during his time as President came from his arrangement with Sierra Leonean rebels that consisted of an exchange of diamonds for arms and ammunitions eventually used to commit atrocities such as rape and murder in Sierra Leone.

For more information please see:

Charles Taylor Trial – Charles Taylor Received Money From Taiwan and Libya For His Presidential Campaign, He says – 1 December 2009

Charles Taylor Trial – Judges Order Prosecutors To Disclose To The Defense All New Documents They Intend To Use In Cross-Examination of Charles Taylor – 3 December 2009

Impunity Watch – Taylor Concedes, But Not Too Much – 1 December 2009

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MADRID, Spain – Although Western Sahara activist Aminatou Haidar was supposed to return home on Friday, she remains on the Spanish Canary island of Lanzarote.

“The Spanish government requested permission [yesterday] for the plane to fly over and land” in Haidar’s hometown of Laayoune in Western Sahara, said Spain’s foreign ministry spokesperson.  “Morocco granted this permission but it withdrew it just before the plane was to take off.  We were on board the plane… when the control tower called to say authorization had just been cancelled.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has called on Spain and Morocco to “consider any measure that could facilitate [the] movement and end the current impasse” of Haidar, whose condition is rapidly deteriorating.

Haidar began her hunger strike on November 16, three days after her passport was confiscated and Moroccan authorities denied her entry into Western Sahara.  She went on strike in order to draw attention to her cause.  Morocco annexed Western Sahara in 1975 after Spain left.  She has frequently criticized Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara.  Her critique prompted the Polisario rebel group to rise up for independence.  Although Morocco has pledged widespread autonomy for the country, it refuses independence as demanded by the Polisario Front.

According to Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, last week Spain’s government offered her either Spanish nationality or refugee status “as an exceptional measure.”  She declined because she plans on returning home and does not want to become “a foreigner in her own home.”

Recalling landing in Lanzarote without a passport, Haidar said “I never would have thought that the Spanish government would play such a dirty role, to do such a favor for Morocco.”

Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa de la Vega said the country is taking “all diplomatic steps with Morocco in order for her to recover her passport.”

Moroccan Ambassador to Spain, Omar Azziman, said that she can have her passport back as long as she recognizes her own Moroccan nationality.

Haidar “disowned her identity and her nationality,” said Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri, and she “must accept, on her own, the legal and moral consequences which result from this behavior.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Morocco Refuses to Allow Sahara Activist to Return: Spain – 04 December 2009

UN News Centre – UN Refugee Chief Urges End to Impasse Over Saharawi Activist – 04 December 2009

VOA – Western Sahara Activist in Third Week of Hunger Strike – 03 December 2009

Guardian – Fear Grows for Hunger Strike Nobel Nominee – 29 November 2009

Reuters – Saharan Hunger-Striker Refuses Spanish Passport – 29 November 2009

AFP – Spanish Nationality Offered to W.Sahara Hunger Striker – 28 November 2009

Impunity Watch – Rights Activist Arrested in Western Sahara – 14 November 2009