February 15, 2000
(Note: These are unedited and uncorrected transcripts)

RABBI SAPERSTEIN: May I ask the next panel to take their places, please?

Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to begin with our second panel now. This is a slightly more diverse panel in its nature. It is focusing from another perspective on life on the ground, but here, we are going to hear from two Sudanese who have recently left.

Ms. Victoria Ben Ding is a Southern Sudanese who recently came from Khartoum, and Mr. Adlan Abdelaziz is a Muslim who was arrested and was a victim of torture in Sudan.

We are going to hear from Baroness Caroline Cox, who is a Deputy Speaker of the United Kingdom House of Lords and has long been an outspoken proponent of international action on behalf of the press people in Sudan.

And Dr. Eric Reeves--as a former English major, I love having him here as a wonderful professor of English, particularly being from my wife's alma mater, Smith College--but more appropriately, he is on leave, working on Sudan this year. I think that anyone following this issue knows of the extraordinary work that he has been doing, particularly in terms of issues of corporate responsibility. We are going to ask him to address the issues of how the oil situation has affected some of the stories that we have heard here, but we will take advantage of your presence to also touch on some of the breaking issues with your work.

Baroness Cox, would you please lead off?