Abeed

Abeed (Arabic: عبد‎‎, plural Abeed عبيد or El Abeed العبيد) is a derogatory term in Arabic meaning "slave" and is usually applied as an insult to people of Black African descent. The name has been explained as an allusion to the submission that Muslims owe to Allah. Meyer dismisses this as "efforts by propagandists [to] explain the term away [that are] at the least, disingenuous".

Usage in Sudan

There have been instances of Northern Sudanese using the terms "Abid" or "Abeed" to refer to Southern Sudanese. This usage is considered derogatory and has fallen into relative disuse over the years. Southern Sudanese in turn refer to Northerners as "Mundukuru" and "Minga". According to Professor Mahmoud Mamdani however, conflicts in Sudan are not compatible with western pre-conceptions of "race".

Francis Deng described the north-south division imposed by the British on Anglo-Egyptian Sudan as the British saying to the Northerners: "You Northerners are slave traders and you treat the Southerners like Abeed. Don't call them Abeed! They are slaves no longer."

Jok Madut Jok argued that the Sudanese slave trade persists in the 21st century. He claimed that Southern Sudanese who work in the North at marginal and petty jobs are regarded as Abeed because of the social standing that is concomitant with such occupations. Dinka labourers earning just enough to buy food are treated as the property of landowners and merchants. "Displaced Southerners," Jok states, "are at the bottom of the racial hierarchy in Northern Sudan." He explains that they depend upon patronage and exploitative relationships with power brokers, with relations ranging from servitude through bonded work to serving as attractants for resources from foreign aid agencies. "The lines dividing slavery and cheap labor", he states, "are blurred."

See also

• Francis Bok, abolitionist and former slave