War in the South Sudan may be inevitable, Ellen Ratner says

Ellen Ratner, calling in from Dubai after leaving Southern Darfur, says the whole issue is slavery. The government of Sudan refuses to call it slavery, and instead calls the "abductees." Slavery is illegal in Sudan, Ellen says, as there is a law passed by the British. However, there is no punishment for slavery and no mechanism to punish slave-holders. There's been a group that brings back these "abductees," she says, but they are being sent back with nothing- no food, supplies, or financial support. They just rely on the kindness of villagers, and the government of Khartoum has done nothing, Ellen says, to make sure that the people from the south can recovery from slavery. This may make war in the south inevitable when the vote comes in 2011 or after for independence. (1:19)
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A slave's children are considered children of the master, Ellen says

Ellen Ratner, calling in from Dubai after leaving Southern Darfur, says they met with refugees and some slaves on Monday. The slaves, she says, left Northern Sudan and were returning to their homes. One refugee who had been a slave, she says, was recognized by another former slave who had the same tribal markings. This slave had been converted to Islam and had children, and the slave's master was very upset that the children were going. Apparently the Islamic way, Ellen says, is that the woman is still held in slavery but her children are considered children of the master. The master was very upset, she says, that the government of Sudan was allowing his children to go with their mother. (1:18)
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A freed slave's story

Ellen Ratner tells the pain of a freed slave's life, and the hope of returning to her family. (1:15)
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Speaking with freed slaves in southern Sudan

Ellen Ratner describes the freeing of slaves on the border of Darfur. Some slaves are simply killed rather than sold, and even those that are freed often do not understand their freedom, not having known any other life. (1:52)
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Jack Rice Discusses the Horrors of the Life of a Twenty Year Old Slave Girl Living In Sudan

Jack Rice speaks of the horrors facing a twenty year old slave girl living in Sudan after speaking with a freed slave. (1:29)
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Dan Patterson Describes the Stunning World of Genocide-Torn Sudan

Dan Patterson reports live in the sweltering heat of Sudan. Minutes after witnessing hundreds of slaves being freed, Patterson describes a world where people have lived in captivity for years, where freedom is "purchased", and where murder and torture is a part of every day life. (2:03)
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Villagers in Darfur told Ellen Ratner the needs they hoped Americans would give

On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Ellen Ratner says she is is a village where people from Darfur and other areas have come back to their villages, courtesy of the United Nations. They were told stories of how the people were able to escape to the north or were taken as slaves, although there has been little international recognition that there was slavery at all. One man told them, she says, that the slaves were kept in a pen for seven days without food and water. At this point after all these years away, she says that man told her, the village needs food, clean water, and a health facility. As they were meeting with the villagers today, Ellen said, an unclothed woman came through. The villagers quickly surrounded her, Ellen said, and told her that the woman had been traumatized by rape and that she had seen so many of her relatives killed, that this was her way of coping. The villagers told her the needs that they hoped Americans would give: they had no school, no clinics, no books, no pencils, no paper, and no clean water. That is the need, Ellen says, that is so strong in Southern Sudan.
(1:40)
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Refugees in Darfur told Ellen Ratner they had their houses burned and their cattle taken

On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Ellen Ratner says it is an amazing scene. The people that left their villages and went to Darfur, Ellen says, are being dropped off to their home villages without food or much at all. They talked about their needs, she says, and how their houses were burned down, and their cattle were taken, and how they had no food and had to leave. They are being repatriated in their home communities. They talked to refugees that were coming back from Darfur, she said, and when she asked them how many of them had a relative that had been killed or had been enslaved, every one of them raised their hand. (1:24)
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Sacks of Hope are the good that is helping in the Sudan, Dan Patterson says

On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Dan Patterson says that they unloaded the Sacks of Hope, and it strikes him how much those fifteen pound bags will do. If you teach a man to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime, Dan says, but it doesn't apply here because these people are coming back from someplace else that is even worse, and all of them need help and assistance. Right now, he says, the Sacks of Hope are the good that is being done and helping these people. (1:17)
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The people in the Sudan understand horror, Jack Rice says

On location in the South Sudan, in a very isolated place called Majom Kor, Jack Rice says that people continue to stream into the area. Wave after wave crushes in, he says, and they are afraid of another attack by the Janjaweed. He says he asked over 200 people how many had lost a member of their family in the war, and says that over half of them raised their hands. Almost half of them also raised their hands when he asked them if they'd ever been enslaved. When we talk about horror, he says, these people understand it in ways that we rarely see almost any place in the world. (1:24)
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Difficult aid operations on the border of Darfur

Ellen Ratner reports on the infrastructure of southern Sudan and aid operations there. (1:23)
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Desperate living conditions for Darfur refugees

Reporting from the border of Darfur, Ellen Ratner speaks about the living conditions in southern Sudan. (1:42)
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Large differences between Sudan and Europe; some good, some bad

Dan Patterson reports from southern Sudan on the poverty there and the contrast between Sudan and Europe. (1:30)
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Kenyan security guard says he doubts things will change

Jack Rice interviews a security guard in Nairobi, Kenya, on the conditions there and his predictions for the future. (3:23)
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