November 15, 2007 (WASHINGTON) — Salva Kiir, First Vice President of the Government of National Unity of Sudan and President of the Government of Southern Sudan pledged action to control a wave of abductions that have led to the disappearance of more than 450 children in the last two years.
- Kou Solomon (Center) and Amanda Lyons (Right) with Salva Kiir in D.C.
President Kiir, who was in Washington on an official visit, granted a meeting with the Minnesota student group at the request of US lawmakers.
The group also called upon Ismael Kony, a member of Kiir’s coalition government once recognized as the leader of the Murle militia groups, to negotiate with Murle leaders.
Kony had publicly declared earlier this month demanded that the Murle groups cease abductions.
Kiir told members of the Save Yar Campaign on Nov. 10 that negotiations were not possible with the Murle militia which is believed to be behind the abductions.
The SPLM leader stressed that only military force could halt the abduction spree. However the Save Yar Campaign urged Kiir to attempt peaceful means to persuade the Murles’ to cease the abductions.
The Save Yar Campaign called on Kony to personally negotiate with Murle leaders to cease abductions and release previously abducted children.
US Senator Betty McCollum from Minnesota met with Kiir on November 8 and asked that he investigate the abduction one of her constituents two nieces, Gabriel Solomon of St. Paul.
Senators Coleman and Klobuchar sent a joint letter Nov. 9 to Kiir urging him to meet with Solomon and consider the proposals of the Save Yar Campaign, writing: “We believe this crisis presents an important opportunity for the Government of South Sudan to distinguish itself in the world community as a government that protects the rights of its most vulnerable citizens”.
The students urged the U.S. Congress to monitor the abduction crisis through official communications and congressional hearings. The campaign demanded that the US work through its existing development partnership with South Sudan to address the health and economic problems that provide motives for child abduction.
(ST)
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Background:
Solomon’s nieces – Yar Mading, age 3, and 18-month-old Ajak Mading – were abducted October 3 in Jonglei state, South Sudan. Their great-grandmother was fatally shot in the abduction and their grandmother grievously wounded.
The Murle were funded by North Sudan during the recent civil war and did not lay down arms after the U.S.-brokered peace agreement. They seize children from neighboring communities to raise as their own.
With local officials taking no action for a month to locate or free the girls, Solomon and three fellow University of Minnesota students traveled to Washington, D.C., to attempt to meet with Kiir during his visit for talks with U.S. officials.
Joining Solomon, 27, in the 45-minute private audience with President Kiir and his advisers was Amanda Lyons, 25, law student and president of the U. of M. Amnesty International Legal Support Network. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs students Robyn Skrebes, 26, and James E. Collins, 23, accompanied them to Washington for meetings with key officials in Congress, the State Department, the Labor Department’s office of human trafficking, and the advocacy group Human Rights
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