Mende Nazer was born in south Sudan, the 'black African half' of the country, which is predominantly Christian while the northern, Arabic half (with which the south has been engaged in a war of seperation for a generation, if mass slaughter of the south by the north can be called a 'war') is almost entirely Islamic. Mende herself, however, is a Muslim, from the Nuba community, born in a tiny village near Sudan's only mountain range. At the age of 12 her village was invaded by what her father called 'Mojahedin - Arab raiders'. They were slavers; they burned the village to the ground and cut the throats of the men. Unlike their forbears these slavers were after women. Mende was beaten, dragged over stones, and watched while the older girls, boys and women from her village were raped. Her enduring memory of the slavers is their chanting: 'Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!' - 'God is great! God is great!' She remembers the stench of burning flesh from the village, and of blood. She was sold to other slave traders in Khartoum and eventually to a prosperous family in the capital, who beat her constantly, never allowed her to speak to other children (let alone an education) and expected her to run their entire household. They worked her non-stop; if she was permitted to speak to her 'owner' she called him 'master'. Then an opportunity arose for her 'master' to make a profit, and she was sold to new 'owners' in London. It sounds like a Victorian horror story - something by Joseph Conrad by way of Charles Dickens. Actually it happened last year. You might think she was unlucky - that this was an isolated event, that she fell into the clutches of particularly evil men, that most of Sudan can't be like this. In fact, the family in London to which she was sold worked in the Sudanese embassy. Maybe you'd think this is an isolated case, that Sudan may be bad but the rest of the region is fine. Nope. Sudan isn't even the worst: in Mauretania there are even open slave markets, just like in the old days, with the same people making the money and the same peopole becoming its victims. The slave trade is as old as civilisation and every part of humanity has been implicated in it. Almost everyone alive today - black, brown or white - may be the descendent of slaves - or slavers. For hundreds of years Europeans preyed on each other for slaves; then they discovered the flourishing African slave trade, in which those in the north (Arabs, Berbers, Egyptians) mostly made slaves of those from the south (Nigerians, Sudanese). For almost 400 years first Europeans, then Americans, profited from that trade in African flesh and labour... And then they stopped. From the moment the principles of modern secular democracy began to be enacted, in 1789, in America, Britain, France and elsewhere, to the banning of the Atlantic slave trade, and enforcing of the ban in the 1830s, to the end of slavery in the USA in 1864 and in south America about 20 years later, three generations had passed - maybe an eternity for the slaves themselves but a tiny fraction of the total time that slavery has existed. And in all the time slavery went on great religions arose, embodying great moral principles, yet still not a damn thing changed. It took democracy to kill off slavery, and nothing else. In north Africa there is no democracy, and never has been. Five kinds of imperialism have come and gone in the region, and at least two religions. Nowadays the predominant religion is Islam, which is said to abhor slavery. But Islam makes no difference whatsoever: the same disgusting business carries on now as it has done so for over 2,000 years, with the same people making money and the same people becoming its victims. Slavery carries on because the people who become slaves, and the people who through their own sense of moral decency genuinely do abhor slavery, have no voice with which to stop it. They have no voice because there is no democracy. There is no democracy because democracy has no champions; it is associated with the 'west', with 'immorality' and with 'unbelief'. So the slave trade goes on. Mende Nazer arrived in London. She disn't speak a word of English, she was still a teenager and was petrified. One day she was allowed out of her master's suburban mansion and, passing a high steet car shop she recognised one of the mechanics as an expat Sudanese. She summoned up the courage to speak to him, and he made her phone a friend of his, also from the Nuba community; when she heard this stranger's familiar accent she almost broke down. He offered to help her escape, and so, early one evening a week later, when her 'mistress' briefly left the mansion's front door open, Mende bolted outside, down the drive of the house, and out into the street, with no idea whether the voice on the phone would materialise. He did. He bundled her in a car, hit the peedle ... and she was free. She went to the UK authorities and not long after, the Sudanese embassy staff for London were quietly changed. It took three years and one refusal but eventually Mende Nazer won British citizenship. She has learned English and is now a nurse in a London hospital. She also found out that most of her family had survived the attack of the 'mohajadin' slavers (at least, so far). Mende herself won't be returning.

of the slavers is their chanting: 'Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar! Allahu Akhbar!' - 'God is great! God is great!' She remembers the stench of burning flesh from the village, and of blood. She was sold to other slave traders in Khartoum and eventually to a prosperous family in the capital, who beat her constantly, never allowed her to speak to other children (let alone an education) and expected her to run their entire household. They worked her non-stop; if she was permitted to speak to her 'owner' she called him 'master'. Then an opportunity arose for her 'master' to make a profit, and she was sold to new 'owners' in London. It sounds like a Victorian horror story - something by Joseph Conrad by way of Charles Dickens. Actually it happened last year. You might think she was unlucky - that this was an isolated event, that she fell into the clutches of particularly evil men, that most of Sudan can't be like this. In fact, the family in London to which she was sold worked in the Sudanese embassy. Maybe you'd think this is an isolated case, that Sudan may be bad but the rest of the region is fine. Nope. Sudan isn't even the worst: in Mauretania there are even open slave markets, just like in the old days, with the same people making the money and the same peopole becoming its victims. The slave trade is as old as civilisation and every part of humanity has been implicated in it. Almost everyone alive today - black, brown or white - may be the descendent of slaves - or slavers. For hundreds of years Europeans preyed on each other for slaves; then they discovered the flourishing African slave trade, in which those in the north (Arabs, Berbers, Egyptians) mostly made slaves of those from the south (Nigerians, Sudanese). For almost 400 years first Europeans, then Americans, profited from that trade in African flesh and labour... And then they stopped. From the moment the principles of modern secular democracy began to be enacted, in 1789, in America, Britain, France and elsewhere, to the banning of the Atlantic slave trade, and enforcing of the ban in the 1830s, to the end of slavery in the USA in 1864 and in south America about 20 years later, three generations had passed - maybe an eternity for the slaves themselves but a tiny fraction of the total time that slavery has existed. And in all the time slavery went on great religions arose, embodying great moral principles, yet still not a damn thing changed. It took democracy to kill off slavery, and nothing else. In north Africa there is no democracy, and never has been. Five kinds of imperialism have come and gone in the region, and at least two religions. Nowadays the predominant religion is Islam, which is said to abhor slavery. But Islam makes no difference whatsoever: the same disgusting business carries on now as it has done so for over 2,000 years, with the same people making money and the same people becoming its victims. Slavery carries on because the people who become slaves, and the people who through their own sense of moral decency genuinely do abhor slavery, have no voice with which to stop it. They have no voice because there is no democracy. There is no democracy because democracy has no champions; it is associated with the 'west', with 'immorality' and with 'unbelief'. So the slave trade goes on. Mende Nazer arrived in London. She disn't speak a word of English, she was still a teenager and was petrified. One day she was allowed out of her master's suburban mansion and, passing a high steet car shop she recognised one of the mechanics as an expat Sudanese. She summoned up the courage to speak to him, and he made her phone a friend of his, also from the Nuba community; when she heard this stranger's familiar accent she almost broke down. He offered to help her escape, and so, early one evening a week later, when her 'mistress' briefly left the mansion's front door open, Mende bolted outside, down the drive of the house, and out into the street, with no idea whether the voice on the phone would materialise. He did. He bundled her in a car, hit the peedle ... and she was free. She went to the UK authorities and not long after, the Sudanese embassy staff for London were quietly changed. It took three years and one refusal but eventually Mende Nazer won British citizenship. She has learned English and is now a nurse in a London hospital. She also found out that most of her family had survived the attack of the 'mohajadin' slavers (at least, so far). Mende herself won't be returning. Sad....but very good and thank you.

Terrrible! Not enough press is being generated on this subject of modern day slavery! http://members.aol.com/kalonj1006/

Terrrible! Not enough press is being generated on this subject of modern day slavery! http://members.aol.com/kalonj1006/ Most US black leaders have taken the Code of Silence on this.  Just appalling.