Slavery still in vogue in Sudan, says US team

But the group, with members from the US, Britain, Italy, Norway and France, said in its report delivered to the Sudanese Government on Wednesday it was ‘‘unable to establish the scale of abduction and enslavement’’ in the vast country.

The report said the government had armed tribal militias while employing them as auxiliary forces in its 19-year-long war with southern rebels, and this had aided the militias in carrying out abductions and encouraged them to behave in a lawless manner.

Sudan says there are abductions but no slavery. The absence of democratic institutions in both government and rebel-held areas had made it more difficult to prevent abductions and forced servitude, the report said.

Military commanders should be held more accountable for slavery conducted by militias under their control and a train link in Bahr al-Ghazal province in southwest Sudan should be suspended because militias have used it for their slave trade.

The group, formed in February on the recommendation of US peace envoy to Sudan John Danforth, also visited government and rebel-held areas in April, backed by a technical team.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Army began fighting in 1983 for autonomy for mainly animist and Christian south Sudan from the Muslim, Arab north. Around two million people have died in the conflict in one of Africa’s most impoverished nations.