Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the team of women and men led by Baroness Caroline Cox, president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide of the United Kingdom. Reverend Cal Bombay from Crossroads Christian Communications has travelled with these delegations in his tireless efforts to free the slaves of Sudan.
On February 15, 1999, on a six day mission they successfully assisted in securing the freedom of another 325 slaves and facilitated arrangements for the return and redemption of 309 others, making this a total of 634. This group, the majority of them children, ranged in age from two to forty-two, some having been taken as slaves since 1994. A previous trip in 1998 enabled them to purchase the freedom of approximately 500 more slaves.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide calls on the international community to step up pressure on the NIF regime to desist from military offensives against innocent civilians and from its policies of abduction of women and children into slavery, looting, and the destruction of means of subsistence.