Slave-to-slave peace

Sudan: A North-South peace agreement may or may not hold, but a U.S.-Sudanese group is forging one-to-one truces | Priya Abraham

Muslim refugees from Sudan’s western Darfur region were stunned when three Sudanese Christians appeared at their tents a little over a month ago. They had traveled all the way from the United States, having fled Sudan in the wake of the South’s 20-year civil war with Khartoum. In the fighting they were victims not only of Khartoum soldiers but also of the Darfuris, whom the Islamic government coerced into serving as foot soldiers against rebel and Christian strongholds. Now the southerners had come with medicines and mercy for their old persecutors.

“We went there as a people who have experienced the same thing for 40 years,” said James Telar, a member of the Christian contingent. “It is not a new thing to me, but to them it’s a new thing.”