By Leslie Goffe [BBC News], New York
 Former Sudanese slave Simon Deng has begun a 300 mile (482km) walk in the United States calling for action to end Darfur's crisis and slavery in Sudan.
He is being joined on his "Freedom Walk" from New York to Washington DC by fellow countryman, the seven foot seven inch ex-NBA basketballer Manute Bol. They say despite the US describing the violence in Darfur as genocide, nothing is being done to stop the killing. Both men are from southern Sudan which endured a separate 21-year civil war.
A peace deal to end the north-south conflict was signed last year, but fighting in the western region of Darfur erupted three years ago. The Sudanese government denies backing the Arab militia - accused of the worst atrocities there - blaming casualties on the black African rebels who took up arms. Escape "We're not going to allow our black African people to be wiped out by those people who call themselves Arabs," said Mr Bol, who used to play in America's National Basketball Association (NBA) league. "We want the United States and the international community to take action." Mr Deng says he knows all too well about being deprived of freedom and the horrors of slavery. He was stolen away from his home in southern Sudan as a child and sold to an Arab family in the north. After escaping several years later, he was granted political asylum in the US in 1980. "The US government came out two years ago and told the world that genocide was being committed. Since they used that word nothing has been done while human beings are being butchered and slaughtered on a daily basis," Mr Deng said before setting off on Wednesday. He believes the Freedom Walk will change the US relationship with Sudan and convince Congress to pass the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. "We're going to walk for eight hours, sometimes nine hours... and thousands of others are going to join us before we reach Washington DC," he said. They expect to reach Washington on 5 April. |
