By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

A fact-finding mission brokered by the United States to study obstacles to the settlement of the 19-year-long civil war in Sudan, left April 8 determined to find out what needs to be done "to eliminate the practices of slavery, abduction and forced servitude in the country," said mission leader Penn Kemble.

Speaking just hours before he departed on the 10-day visit to Sudan, Kemble told the Washington File, "Of course the government of Sudan does not accept the characterization that slavery does exist in Sudan but it does acknowledge there are abductions and forced servitude."

Kemble, senior scholar at the human rights organization, Freedom House, is also a former acting director of the U.S. Information Agency (USIA); now a part of the State Department. The eight-person Eminent Persons Group, which he leads, is an outgrowth of an agreement brokered by the U.S. Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan, former Senator John Danforth, in December 2001.

The other American in the group is Ambassador George Moose, a former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. Stressing "This is not a U.S. governmental mission," Kemble said "Moose is currently on sabbatical and is traveling with us without [State Department] instructions." The other six members making up the study team come from Britain, Italy, France and Norway. Complete Text