'Lost Boy' concludes a perilous mission

Source: Twincities.com

He was robbed at gunpoint. His brother-in-law was gunned down in an unrelated highway robbery. There were times during his mission of mercy that he feared for his safety.

But Gabriel Kou Solomon — the former "Lost Boy" child soldier from Sudan and a University of Minnesota graduate student — stubbornly stayed on point during his recent trip to his conflict-torn African homeland.

He went there to raise awareness about the plight of his two abducted nieces as well as hundreds of other children caught in a game of cat-and-mouse between rival tribes in the midst of a fledgling government seeking to stabilize the country while tackling a host of social issues.

"I thought that it was a good trip overall,'' Solomon told me last week after returning to Minnesota from his arduous and drama-filled four-month journey. "I was mostly received well for bringing this issue up. But there's a lot of need there, and these children right now don't seem to be a top priority.''

I first wrote about Solomon, 28, last fall shortly after his two nieces — Yar Achiek Mading, then 3, and her sister, Ajak, then 18 months old — were abducted from their home in the village of Liliir, reportedly by members of the Murle, an armed band of cattle nomads. Solomon's 80-year-old grandmother was shot to death as she tried to protect the girls. There's concern that the abducted girls will be raised by the Murle to serve as spouses for young male members of the group several years from now.

The abductions came 21 years after Solomon, then 6, was similarly snatched by members of the southern Sudan Liberation Army and trained to be a child soldier. He, along with hundreds of other children, managed to flee their captors months later and endured a deadly and treacherous walk through jungles before reaching refuge in nearby Kenya.

Solomon, granted asylum here, graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and is pursuing a master's degree in global studies here. He lives with a host family in St. Paul.

The abductions not only rekindled painful memories, but also prompted Solomon to galvanize an effort to raise awareness about the child abductions and pressure southern Sudanese government officials to do something about it.

Along with supporters and students from his human-rights-advocacy class, Solomon traveled to Washington a few months ago and won the official support of Minnesota's two senators and other prominent lawmakers. He also met with the president of the southern Sudanese government, who traveled here for several meetings.

PERSONAL RISK AND LOSS

But nothing significant has transpired. So Solomon felt he needed to return to the land where he was abducted and trained to kill — to personally deliver the message, even if it meant postponing his studies or risking his life.

In March, Solomon flew to Juba, the regional capital of southern Sudan, and began scheduling meetings with government officials as well as members of the South Sudan Peace Commission.

The armed holdup took place in early April. Solomon was sitting at a coffeehouse when a man stuck a gun to his head and fled with his laptop computer, his cell phone and cash. Solomon recouped his losses through donations raised by staffers and supporters of the Save Yar Campaign (save-yar.org). But tragedy soon followed.

The abducted girls' father, Achiek Mading Biar, was fatally shot May 13 by a band of armed robbers as he was driving along a road. It was bad enough that his sister, Amer Ayuen Kou, was dealing with the abduction of her two daughters. Now she would have to deal with the murder of her husband.

"My brother-in-law was also working to (rescue) the girls, but we don't think what happened is connected,'' Solomon said last week. "It's just so sad.''

Solomon was invited to attend intertribal conciliation meetings. Tribal rivalries are at the root of the abducted-children issue. But he was also met with derision. One meeting involved a Murle general and member of the peace commission who took umbrage at what was wrongly interpreted as a slight on the campaign's blog.

The issue was resolved. But Solomon came away frustrated that one government official in charge of what would be the U.S. equivalent of child protection and welfare constantly ducked his efforts to meet with her.

"That was very frustrating,'' he said.

'A FEARLESS ADVOCATE'

Solomon's next step is an appearance July 28 at a congressional briefing in Washington, arranged and sponsored by Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn.

"Since the United States was involved in the Sudanese peace accords, perhaps we can apply some pressure to make these children a top concern," Solomon said. "It's not just about my nieces. It's about all these children. It should not have to be this way."

Addressing the United Nations on this issue might be the next step.

"It's a complex issue with a lot of players involved,'' said Barbara Frey, director of the Human Rights Program in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.

"I cannot say enough about how critical it was to have Kou on the ground there,'' added Frey, a human-rights advocate for more than two decades. "He's not only a fearless advocate for the girls and of (other abducted children), but he's a smart diplomat who understands the Sudanese culture and all the ethnic divisions within. It was a brave thing for him to do."

For now, Solomon is happy to be back in his adopted homeland.

One of his first acts following his return last week was to bite into a Subway sandwich, pretty much his food of choice.

"It tasted real good,'' he said. "It's good to be home. But there's still work to do.''

To learn more about Gabriel Kou Solomon and the abducted children of Sudan, go to www.save-yar.org.