McCollum Raises Case of Kidnapped Girls to President of Southern Sudan
Press Release
McCollum Raises Case of Kidnapped Girls to President of Southern Sudan
Calls for Action to Help Young Nieces of Sudanese U of M Student
In a face-to-face meeting with Southern Sudan's President Salva Kiir Mayardit yesterday, Congresswoman Betty McCollum (MN-04) urged him to investigate the abduction of two young Sudanese girls. Yar, age 3, and her 6-month-old sister Ajak are the nieces of Gabriel Solomon, a University of Minnesota graduate student who himself endured kidnapping and abuse as a child in Sudan before finding refuge in the United States.
The meeting yesterday included members of the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and President Kiir. Sitting across the table from the Vice President, Rep. McCollum handed him a news report on the situation and the efforts of Gabriel Solomon and fellow U of M students to call attention to the girls' plight. She asked him to examine the issue and pledged her full support and cooperation.
"Yar and Ajak's abduction puts human faces on the suffering of so many children in Sudan," McCollum said today. "I call on the U.S. State Department to work closely with the Government of South Sudan to ensure the safe return of these girls and all the other young victims of Sudan's ongoing violence."
Mr. Solomon and fellow students in his University of Minnesota human rights graduate program traveled to Washington yesterday to meet with representatives from Rep. McCollum's office, other Minnesota congressional offices, and the State Department.
Mr. Solomon's nieces are just two of untold numbers of children that have been abducted as part of a brutal, decades-long conflict in Sudan. Boys like Mr. Solomon, who was kidnapped at age 6, are often forced to fight as soldiers for one of the warring factions, while girls often face servitude, forced marriage, or other exploitation. While a peace agreement between warring parties in north and south Sudan was reached in 2005, the situation remains volatile.
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