Activists Decry Slave Redemption in Africa's Sudan

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Human rights and humanitarian groups have questioned the growing practice in Sudan of slave redemption by foreign Christian groups, expressing fears that Western money will fuel the country's slave market.

They have been joined in their criticism by a Catholic missionary priest and journalist who has said that the organizations involved in redeeming slaves may fall victim to "an operation organized by unscrupulous people for financial benefit."

Families and chiefs of the southern Sudanese Dinka tribe have long attempted to redeem abducted women and children from slavery. Most of the victims of slave trade have been women and children from the Dinka tribe who were taken captive by militia groups from the predominantly Muslim North. The captives are considered war booty in the country's ongoing civil conflict.

Since 1995, Dinka leaders …