Sudan Freedom Walk

My friend Simon Deng has been calling attention to the tragedy of Sudan for many years. One highlight was in 2006, when Simon and I sat on either side of President George W. Bush in a White House meeting about Sudan.

Now Simon is on his way to Philadelphia. He left New York City on September 15, 2010, and will be in Philadelphia tomorrow, September 25.

Simon is walking, not just from New York to Philadelphia, but all the way to Washington, DC in his second Sudan Freedom Walk. He will arrive in Washington about two weeks later. Sudan Freedom Walk 2010 will culminate in a rally at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

As someone who was stolen from his family and taken into slavery by northern Islamist Sudanese as a young boy, Simon, a member of the Shilluk tribe in Southern Sudan, understands the preciousness of freedom. He is walking, along with his partners and supporters along the route, for democracy and freedom from slavery and genocide throughout Sudan. The National Congress Party regime in Khartoum continues to perpetrate genocidal actions, directed towards the eradication of Sudan’s black, African people groups. And tens of thousands of Southern Sudanese and Nuba, taken in slave raids decades earlier, remain in slavery in northern Sudan and other Arab countries.

In particular this year, the Sudan Freedom Walk is working to shed light on the upcoming referendum on secession in South Sudan. On January 9, 2011, the people of South Sudan will have the opportunity to vote on whether or not to secede and become an independent country. This was one of the provisionsthat was agreed to by Khartoum when they signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. But as with all of the agreements that they have made, they are reneging or otherwise trying to thwart the right of the South Sudanese to determine their own fate. Simon’s walk and the rallies that have been held in New York, will be held in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, will urge the U.S. government to pressure Khartoum to adhere to the agreement.

The Sudan Freedom Walk will also highlight the outrage of the continuing genocide against the people of Darfur, as well as on the marginalization and violation of the human rights of the Nuba, the Beja, the Nubians in the far north, and people throughout Sudan. Our friend Dr. Abdelgabar Adam, the leader of the Darfur Human Rights Organization, USA, is walking with Simon. This demonstrates the reconciliation that has taken place between people groups that were once pitted against each other by Khartoum. Now, all of Sudan’s marginalized people groups, some 93% of the entire population of Sudan, are working together to expose the oppression and persecution initiated by Khartoum.

Simon’s first Sudan Freedom Walk was in the spring of 2006. I was one of the speakers at the rally held in front of the U.S. Capitol. Accompanying Simon on Sudan Freedom Walk 2006 was Sudanese basketball star Manute Bol. Manute, who had spent many years trying to help his people and building schools in South Sudan, had planned to walk with Simon again this year. Tragically, Manute became ill this past spring while on a trip back to South Sudan to help with the elections. He was hospitalized in both Nairobi and Virginia, but succumbed to acute kidney failure and Stevens-Johnson syndrome and died at the age of 47 in June 2010. The rally in Philadelphia, where Manute played with the ‘76ers, will be a tribute to the Dinka hero.

If you’re in the vicinity for the Philadelphia rally tomorrow, or the DC rally on October 7, please come.

Philadelphia: Independence Hall Park between Market and Chestnut Streets, 1:00-3:00 P.M.

Washington, DC: U.S. Capitol, 12 noon.

For more information about Simon Deng and his mission see Sudan Freedom Walk.

Photos from Sudan Freedom Walk 2006: