It has become increasingly clear that Canadian church money may well have been used to purchase weapons and ammunition for combatants in Sudan. In so doing, these monies may have artificially prolonged the tragic civil war in that country – as well as enabling Sudanese combatants to acquire and support dozens of wives within polygamous marriages as the result of fraudulent “slave redemption” scams in which alleged “slaves” were said to have been “bought” back from “slave traders”. Tens of thousands of dollars of this money may have come from groups such as Canada’s Crossroads Christian Ministries at the behest of people such as Reverend Cal Bombay, the organisation’s Vice-President of Ministry and Missions – someone closely identified with such “redemptions”.
These are the clear implications outlined in articles which have appeared in newspapers of record in the United States and Europe. In February 2002, in an unprecedented international focus, ‘The Irish Times’, London’s ‘Independent on Sunday’, ‘The Washington Post’ and ‘International Herald Tribune’, chose to publish, or republish, articles exposing the deep fraud and corruption at the heart of claims of “slave redemption” in Sudan. (1) These articles are the culmination of long- standing concerns about the activities of several organisations involved in what has become a Western-financed “redemption” industry in parts of Sudan. The claims by organisations and people such as John Eibner and the Swiss-based Christian Solidarity International (CSI), Baroness Cox’s Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and Reverend Cal Bombay’s Crossroads Christian Ministries, themselves, to have “redeemed” tens of thousands of Sudanese “slaves” have been sharply called into question. ‘The Washington Post’ reported that in numerous documented instances “the slaves weren’t slaves at all, but people gathered locally and instructed to pretend they were returning from bondage”. (2) ‘The Independent on Sunday’ reported that it was able to “reveal that ‘redemption’ has often been a carefully orchestrated fraud”. (3)
‘The Irish Times’ reported that: “According to aid workers, missionaries, and even the rebel movement that facilitates it, slave redemption in Sudan is often an elaborate scam.” ‘The Irish Times’ article also stated that in many cases “the process is nothing more than a careful deceit, stage-managed by corrupt officials”.
‘“In reality, many of the ‘slaves’ are fakes. Rebel officials round up local villagers to pose for the cameras. They recruit fake slavers – a light skinned soldier, or a passing trader, to ‘sell’ them. The children are coached in stories of abduction and abuse for when the redeemer, or a journalist, asks questions. Interpreters may be instructed to twist their answers. The money, however, is very real. CSI can spend more than $300,000 during a week of redemptions at various bush locations. After their plane takes off, the profits are divvied up – a small cut to the ‘slaves’ and the ‘trader’ but the lion’s share to local administrators and SPLA figures.”
In an open letter in 2000 senior SPLA commander Aleu Ayieny Aleu stated that “slave redemption” had become a “racket of mafia dimensions”. He also revealed, as an example, that one of his lighter-skinned relatives, SPLA captain Akec Tong Aleu, had been “forced several times to pretend as an Arab and simulate the sale of free children to CSI on camera”. (4) Aleu declared: “It was a hoax. This thing has been going on for no less than six years”. (5) This account, ‘The Washington Post’ stated, “coincides with descriptions of the scam offered by Sudanese officials and Western aid workers, who said the sheer volume of money flowing into the south made corruption inevitable.” (6) The newspaper also reported that “prevalent fraud is acknowledged by senior rebel officials”. The newspaper stated: “By many accounts, individual rebel commanders are deeply involved in redemption scams”. ‘The Irish Times’ observed that one SPLA commander has earned enough from the scam to acquire forty wives. (7) Other SPLA figures were said to have built houses or financed businesses with their cuts. (8)
‘The Irish Times’ further made clear that:
“[T]he warning signs have been there for years. Within the SPLA, whispers of suspicion have swelled into a chorus of criticism in recent years. Acrimonious rows have broken out and accusations profiteering levelled at individuals. Outside the rebel ranks, aid workers have been puzzled. It seems almost incredible that tens of thousands of abducted civilians could cross a dangerous frontline undetected by government forces. Moreover, aid workers north of the line saw no evidence of large movements south, and their colleagues in the south saw no sudden demand for extra food or medicines by redeemed salves. Put simply, the numbers didn’t add up. And yet no questions were asked. The dollars rolled in and the redemptions continued.”
Senior SPLA official Dr Justin Yaac has also admitted that the SPLA has been able to purchase thousands of gallons of fuel, 27 Land Cruisers and ten thousand uniforms with some of their proceeds from “slave redemption” frauds. (9) The Canadian government-commissioned report, ‘Human Security in Sudan: The Report of a Canadian Assessment Mission’, prepared by special envoy John Harker, was published in January 2000. While Harker was critical of many human rights abuses in Sudan, he clearly questioned the credibility of large-scale “slave redemptions” as claimed by groups such as CSI, and also detailed how fraudulent “slave redemptions” were being used to purchase arms and ammunition: “Several informants reported various scenarios involving staged redemptions. In some cases, SPLM officials are allegedly involved in arranging these exchanges, dressing up as Arab slave traders, with profits being used to support the SPLM/A, buy weapons and ammunition…” (10) It is worth noting that all this would have supported the activities of an organisation described by ‘The Economist’ as “little more than an armed gang of Dinkas…killing, looting and raping. Its indifference, almost animosity, towards the people it was supposed to be “liberating” was all too clear. (11) ‘The New York Times’ has also gone on record to observe that the SPLA: “[H]ave behaved like an occupying army, killing, raping and pillaging” and was led by one of Sudan’s “pre-eminent war criminals” (12).
The Reverend Cal Bombay has been very closely identified with “slave redemption” exercises in Sudan. He has personally handed over vast amounts of cash to the SPLA. (13) ‘The Calgary Sun’, for example, published an eight-part special report which claimed to document large- scale “redemption” by Bombay of southern Sudanese “slaves”. (14) The articles spoke of purchasing these “slaves” from “Arab slave traders”. (15) The trip was arranged by Christian Solidarity International. It is a matter of record that the “slave redemption” exercise described saw US$ 20,750 handed over to SPLA officials. (16) The bulk of this payment came from the Canadian Crossroads Christian Ministries. The Crossroads Family of Ministries has been involved in several such exercises. It claims to have “redeemed” several thousand “slaves”. (17) Bombay was involved in most if not all of these exercises. The Crossroads Ministry also states that “each trip into Sudan has been with the authority of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, and in the company of an SPLM representative”.
It is obvious that Rev Bombay has ignored the clear “warning signs” referred to by ‘The Irish Times’. He has personally been made directly aware of the controversy surrounding “slave redemption”. In early 2000 the veteran southern Sudanese politician Bona Malwal personally alerted him to irregularities when he sent Bombay a copy of his February 2000 letter to Baroness Cox which challenged claims made by Bombay’s close associate Baroness Cox of Christian Solidarity Worldwide to have “redeemed slaves” in Sudan. In this letter to Baroness Cox Malwal stated that:
“On at least three different occasions, you have come into Twic County without the permission of the local leadership, using Messrs Stephen Wondu and Martin Okeruk [SPLA officials] as your license to do so. You then say each time that your mission was to redeem slaves and that indeed you have done so, when in each instance this had not been the case. The latest episode was in October [1999] when you landed at Mayen Abun without even the courtesy of informing the local area representative….I know that you have put out for propaganda, and maybe for fundraising purposes as well, that you redeemed slaves at Mayen Abun in October when nothing of the sort happened. I sincerely hope that this type of game stops…I sincerely hope that you do see the harm that could be caused and that you will refrain from this activity in the future.” (18)
Malwal’s standing within the southern Sudanese community is unassailable. He is a man described by Baroness Cox herself as “one of the well-respected elders of the Dinka tribe”. (19) He is a noted opponent of the Sudanese government, and the publisher of the anti- Khartoum ‘Sudan Democratic Gazette’. Malwal went into exile when the present government in Sudan came to power a decade ago and teaches international affairs at Oxford University. In this letter Malwal also informed Cox that “[b]ecause of the seriousness of this situation, I am sending a copy of this letter to Rev. Carl [sic] Bombay, who I understand went to Mayen Abun with you…” Despite this clear warning Bombay continued with his activities.
‘The Irish Times’ reported, for example, that in late 2001 the Crossroads Christian Ministries once again sought to “redeem slaves”. SPLA spokesman Dr Samson Kwaje sent them home: “I told them to go back to the kids who donated the money and tell them they should give in to one of the aid agencies.” Bombay, and the Crossroads Christian Ministries have shown almost unbelievable irresponsibility. Canadian church monies, raised from sincere men, women and children of faith, have in all likelihood not just been squandered in squalid fraud but very possibly used to provide men of violence with arms and ammunition and allowing others to polygamously acquire dozens of wives. The most benign analysis of Bombay’s behaviour is that he clearly blundered into a situation which was either far too complicated for him to fully comprehend or which he chose to ignore in order to project clearly questionable, anti-Islamic propaganda.
There are several questions that Bombay and Crossroads Christian Ministries must answer in connection with their involvement in Sudan.
Can Bombay guarantee that Crossroads was not party to fraudulent “slave redemptions”?
Can he guarantee that Crossroad monies were not used to buy weapons for gunmen in Sudan?
Can he guarantee that Crossroad monies were not used to facilitate polygamous marriages in Sudan?
Why did he not pay heed to the warnings of Bona Malwal that the exercises he was party to with Baroness Cox may have been fraudulent?
Did Bombay not read the warnings about “slave redemption” outlined in his government’s own Harker Report?
Why did he ignore the explicit warnings of UNICEF, Anti-Slavery International and others on the subject?
Does Bombay not accept that he has acted with grotesque irresponsibility?
Given Rev Bombay’s track record, judgment and reliability with regard to Sudan, any further comments or observations he may make about the situation in that country should be treated with considerable caution. His inability or unwillingness to differentiate between fact and fiction on Sudan is abundantly clear.
For those Canadian Christians, and especially those who may have contributed to Crossroads Ministries, who wish to obtain some of the answers to the above questions, we suggest that they address their enquiries to Rev Cal Bombay, Vice-President Missions, Crossroads Christian Communications; Telephone 905 332 6400 ext 3206; Fax 905 332 1880 or by email to [email protected]
Notes:
“The Great Slave Scam”, ‘The Irish Times’, 23 February 2002; “Scam in Sudan – An Elaborate Hoax Involving Fake African Slaves and Less-than-Honest Interpreters is Duping Concerned Westerners”, ‘The Independent on Sunday’, 24 February 2002; “Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers’: Rebels Exploit Westerners’ Efforts to Buy Emancipation for Sudanese”, ‘The Washington Post’, 26 February 2002; “Sudan Rip-Offs Over Phony Slaves”, ‘International Herald Tribune’, 27 February 2002. “Slave Redemption” has also been extensively questioned. See, for example, Richard Miniter, “The False Promise of Slave Redemption”, ‘The Atlantic Monthly’, July 1999; ‘The Reality of Slave Redemption’, European- Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, March 2001; ‘The Use of Intertribal Raiding as “Slavery” Propaganda in Sudan: A Statement of Concern to Mrs Mary Robinson: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, March 200, all available at http://www.espac.org. Christian Solidarity International’s Sudan activities have long been seriously questioned. See, for example, ‘Time to Speak out on Christian Solidarity International and Sudan: An Open Letter to Anti-Slavery International’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, June 2001; ‘Prejudiced and Discredited: Christian Solidarity International and Sudan’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, 2000, available at http://www.espac.org; David Hoile, ‘Sudan, Propaganda and Distortion: Allegations of Slavery and Slavery-Related Practices’, The Sudan Foundation, London, March 1997.
“The Great Slave Scam”, ‘The Irish Times’, 23 February 2002; “Scam in Sudan – An Elaborate Hoax Involving Fake African Slaves and Less-than-Honest Interpreters is Duping Concerned Westerners”, ‘The Independent on Sunday’, 24 February 2002; “Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers’: Rebels Exploit Westerners’ Efforts to Buy Emancipation for Sudanese”, ‘The Washington Post’, 26 February 2002; “Sudan Rip-Offs Over Phony Slaves”, ‘International Herald Tribune’, 27 February 2002. “Slave Redemption” has also been extensively questioned. See, for example, Richard Miniter, “The False Promise of Slave Redemption”, ‘The Atlantic Monthly’, July 1999; ‘The Reality of Slave Redemption’, European- Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, March 2001; ‘The Use of Intertribal Raiding as “Slavery” Propaganda in Sudan: A Statement of Concern to Mrs Mary Robinson: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, March 200, all available at http://www.espac.org. Christian Solidarity International’s Sudan activities have long been seriously questioned. See, for example, ‘Time to Speak out on Christian Solidarity International and Sudan: An Open Letter to Anti-Slavery International’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, June 2001; ‘Prejudiced and Discredited: Christian Solidarity International and Sudan’, European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council, London, 2000, available at http://www.espac.org; David Hoile, ‘Sudan, Propaganda and Distortion: Allegations of Slavery and Slavery-Related Practices’, The Sudan Foundation, London, March 1997.
“Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers’: Rebels Exploit Westerners’ Efforts to Buy Emancipation for Sudanese”, ‘The Washington Post’, 26 February 2002.
“Scam in Sudan – An Elaborate Hoax Involving Fake African Slaves and Less-than-Honest Interpreters is Duping Concerned Westerners”, ‘The Independent on Sunday’, 24 February 2002
“Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers'”, ‘The Washington Post’ 26 February 2002.
“Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers'”, ‘The Washington Post’, 26 February 2002.
“The Great Slave Scam”, ‘The Irish Times’, 23 February 2002.
“Scam in Sudan – An Elaborate Hoax Involving Fake African Slaves and Less-than-Honest Interpreters is Duping Concerned Westerners”, ‘The Independent on Sunday’, 24 February 2002.
John Harker, ‘Human Security in Sudan: The Report of a Canadian Assessment Mission’, Prepared for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ottawa, January 2000
‘Misguided Relief to Sudan’, Editorial, ‘The New York Times’, 6 December, 1999.
‘The ‘Slave Trail: An Eight-Part Special Report: Freedom’, ‘The Calgary Sun’, http://www.canoe.ca/SlaveTrail/part3.html
See, for example, ‘The Slave Trail: An Eight-Part Special Report: Humanity For Sale’, ‘The Calgary Sun’, http://www.canoe.ca/Slav eTrail/home.html
‘The ‘Slave Trail: An Eight-Part Special Report: Mission Possible’, ‘The Calgary Sun’, http://www.canoe.ca/SlaveTrail/part2.html
‘The ‘Slave Trail: An Eight-Part Special Report: Sellers of Souls’, ‘The Calgary Sun’, http://www.canoe.ca/SlaveTrail/part5.html
See, Crossroads website, http://crossroads.ca/corporat/erdfcurr .htm
Letter from Bona Malwal to Baroness Cox, 23 January 2000 posted on South Sudan Net (http://southsudanet.net)
‘A Response to the Sudan Foundation’ s “Questions” and Criticisms of CSI’s Work in Sudan’, CSI Magazine, Issue 90, December 1997 available at http://home.clara.co.uk/csiuk/90page4.html.
“Ripping Off Slave ‘Redeemers'”, ‘The Washington Post’, 26 February 2002.
‘A Response to the Sudan Foundation’ s “Questions” and Criticisms of CSI’s Work in Sudan’, CSI Magazine, Issue 90, December 1997 available at http://home.clara.co.uk/csiuk/90page4.html.
The European-Sudanese Public Affairs Council sent this media contribution to Media Monitors Network (MMN)