Understanding Sudan

This report is from the Diocese of Kadugli and Nuba Mountains, Episcopal Church of Sudan, courtesy of Faith J. H. McDonnell, Director, International Religious Liberty Program and Church Alliance for a New Sudan, Institute on Religion and Democracy and Co-Director, Anglican Persecuted Church Network

 Report on Christianity in Sudan

Christianity is not a foreign concept or religion to the Sudan, Christianity has existed in the country since the apostle Philip preached to the treasury minister of the “Kandake,” the queen-ruler of so-called Ethiopia, which is the current Sudan. Christianity grew and progressed during the Nubian Kingdoms (Alwa, Nubatia, and Al Maqurrah). These Kingdoms confronted the Islamic invasions that swept North Africa to Europe in the sixth century A.D. During that period of time Christianity was the official religion for these kingdoms.  

In the year 1505, the Funj allied in collaboration with the Arabic Abdullab kingdom and destroyed the last Christian Kingdom and demolished its capital Souba. They established Sinnar Kingdom, which was also known as Sultanate Al-Zarqah. However, some of the Christian traditions continued to be observed by some indigenous Sudanese tribes such as the Nubians in the far north, and people of the Nuba Mountains.

Christianity entered for the second time with the invasion of Turkish/Egyptian rule in the year 1831. With this invasion a number of Christian scholars from Egypt, Syria and Palestine entered the country to work in various governmental departments as employees, and others joined the army and others worked in trade sectors. During this period, the first Catholic Mission was sent to Sudan headed by Saint Daniel Comboni, who was appointed by the Pope as the first Archbishop of the Central African region. His missionary activity started from Delenj in the Nuba Mountains, but he departed along with other brethren, monks, and nuns to Egypt when the Mahadi revolution started in Sudan in 1881. 

In 1899 the British troops, led by General Lord Kitchener, conquered and defeated the Mahadi revolution and established a bilateral agreement between Egypt and Britain to administer Sudan under predominately British General Governors. During this bilateral governance Christian Missions were allowed to enter the Sudan again and planted churches and Christian activities that currently exist today. The British government initially forbade these Christian Missions to operate in northern Sudan for fears of inciting Al-Mahadi’s followers that might lead to unrest and revolution in Sudan. Therefore, the government restricted these missions to operate in the so-called “closed areas,” namely South Sudan and Nuba Mountains. However, in some parts of north Sudan these missions established schools for students of those Christian employees working in governmental institutions and other business professions. They also built churches to perform Christian related celebrations and prayer services. It is worth mentioning that at that stage these Christian Missions were able to acquire and own lands in Sudan.

There was a greedy conspiracy by the Egyptians towards Sudan that the country’s wealth belonged to Egypt. So they worked extremely hard before the independence of the Sudan to incite some its pro-Sudanese political parties to demand a quick removal of the British government from Sudan and thus to install Sudan under the Egyptian Crown. The British however, worked overwhelmingly towards providing Sudan a full independence and established administrative, judicial, and educational systems corresponding to the systems in Great Britain. 

Following the independence of the Sudan and as a result of the Egyptian and Sudanese political intimacy, the introduction of the Islamic Brotherhood concept, founded by Hassan al-Banna, entered Sudan and formed a group with the same ideology. They united under one front called the Islamic Covenant Front led by Dr. Hassan Abdullah al-Turabi and called for an Islamic Constitution.

Its also worth mentioning at this stage that the northern Sudanese political parties which were influenced by the Egyptian conspiracy viewed Christianity as a threat to their Islamic program of transforming Sudan to an Islamic Arabian nation. When Lieutenant General Ibrahim Aboud seized power in Khartoum he ordered Christian Missions to leave Sudan straightaway and confiscated their land, capital and other privately owned properties and since that time Christian activities have been severely restricted and even prohibited in certain parts of the Sudan, including Darfur in the west of Sudan. This policy has been practiced to varying degrees by successive political regimes that governed Sudan. But the situation got particularly worse when President Jaafar Mohammed Nimeiri allied with the Muslim Brotherhood’s National Islamic Front, led by Dr. Al-Turabi, and pioneered the introduction of Islamic Sharia Law in 1983 with its various practices in all of Sudan. 

As soon as the Marshal Omer Hassan al-Bashir seized power through military coup against the elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq-al-Mahdi on June 30, 1989, he and his junta continued to maintain the same Islamic norms by openly supporting Dr. Al-Turabi’s Islamic Front party and declaring Jihad on non-Muslims in South Sudan, Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile. It is imperative to note that the government of al-Bashir hosts extremist Islamic movements from all over the world including al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, and provided him and his terrorist establishment with astronomical business investments in the country, and delegated him the role of making the church and Christianity extinct in Sudan. The regime has extensively applied policies aimed at strangling, weakening and killing of Christians in Sudan. Among these policies include:   

Islamic Constitution: 

The Sudanese constitution states that Islamic Sharia Law is the source of legislation in the Sudan. And it is therefore forbidden for a non-Muslim person to head/rule the country. Only a Muslim person can hold such office. Christians are thus deprived of such privileges. 

Criminal Law and Public Order Act:

The Criminal Law specifies two types of penalties:  Hudud penalties and Discretionary/Disciplinary penalties. The Hudud penalties are those revealed in the Quran such as stoning, whipping, crucifixion, amputation, cross-amputation, deportation, and life or ordinary imprisonment for they are considered to be grave offenses.  And these offenses generally applied to those who committed: alcohol consumption, adultery, theft, murder, backsliding/denouncement of Islam and defamation. On the other hand, Discretionary penalties are those which have not been revealed in the Quran and which have been left by the legislator for the discretion of a judge to impose what he/she sees appropriate for the crime. The Public Order Act is designed to reflect the Islamic image of Sudan internationally.  And this Act includes a code of dressing conduct, restriction of family/private celebrations to certain hours, forbidding mixed gender performing arts, closing of businesses on Fridays for prayers, total closure of restaurants and cafes during the fasting month of Ramadan. Additionally, the law criminalizes homelessness and beggars, and it prohibits men from practicing a profession considered for women like hairstyling, designing and tailoring female clothes. All such trials take place in special courts where the accused have no rights for representation in his/her defence, and ultimately are fined with extortionate sums of money or imprisonment if the fine is not paid. Omdurman Women’s Prison is extraordinarily packed beyond its capacity with women who are sentenced under these laws.  It is also crucial to mention that there are lactating women, some of whom are detained with their newly born infants. 

Confiscation of Church Properties and its Organizations: 

Some obvious examples of these confiscations are: The confiscation of the Catholic Social and Sports Club, near the entrance of Khartoum International Airport. It is not only the building and land that was confiscated, but all its other assets and furnishings without any attempt to compensate the Catholic institution in Sudan or elsewhere for the loss they severely suffered. Moreover, the building was provocatively and humiliatingly overturned to become the headquarters of the ruling National Congress Party (aka Islamic National Front). Some other similar confiscations include: all assets of the aid agency, Sudan Aid, which is a Catholic Relief and Development Organization in Nyala and El-Da’ain East and South States in Darfur; the offices and assets of the Sudan Council of Churches in Nyala South Darfur State, which included vehicles, motorbikes and furniture; confiscation of the Pentecostal Church premises in Khartoum, which was constitutionally challenged by the church but has yet to be looked into; retention of a number of shipping containers at Port-Sudan which contain bibles and other Christian literature belonging to The Bible Society, and the government refuses to release these containers and/or their contents. 

Unfair Trials of Christians: 

Based on the text of Article 126 of the Sudanese Criminal Code of 1991 on the crime of apostasy, a number of Christians from Islamic backgrounds were tried and imprisoned for lengthy periods of time. A vivid and recent example of that was Dr Miriam who was convicted and sentenced to death of such crimes by the Criminal Court of Al-Haj Yousif (a district in Khartoum). However, the Court of Appeals revoked the sentence after support from immense international solidarity that exerted untold pressure on Sudan, which compelled the Sudanese authorities to free Dr Miriam who has now sought asylum and refuge in the United States of America. 

Also under this criminal code, pastors of the Church of Christ were prosecuted for an alleged crime of espionage and conspiracy with a foreign state. But following a massive worldwide outcry and campaign these church leaders were all released.  The sole purpose of these targeted trials are merely to frighten and deter the Christian congregations in Sudan and their leaders from practicing their faith and to isolate them from any overseas connections. 

Discrimination and Segregation of Land Distribution Against Christians:

It has been a longstanding custom for authorities in Sudan, particularly in Khartoum, to setup a housing plan strategy to address “squatter areas” around the capital where most Christians live, where they intentionally target churches for demolition. Somehow these churches seem to always and systematically fall in areas that are prohibited to build houses, such as roads and open areas. However, after these churches are demolished the authorities usually gift these plots of land to their own people who then enter into legal disputes with the particular church for lengthy periods of time, but usually the church loses the battle. This is exactly what happened to the Evangelical and the Catholic churches in Al-Haj Yousif area of Khartoum. And when Christians are relocated from one area to another they are not compensated for their old churches in the new areas they’ve been moved into. And an example of this is the citizens who were moved from Soba-Aradi to Al-Fateh town north of Omdurman. In contrast, Mosques and other Islamic religious sects and organizations are automatically granted plots of lands at no cost whatsoever.  

Education system: 

The mainstream education curriculum in Sudan is a distinctly Islamic system and has been formulated to cultivate Islamic values from rituals and practices to jihad, martyrdom, and glorification of Islam and its heroes. The kindergartens are also forced to memorize and recite verses from the Quran endlessly during the day. 

The Ministry of Education abandoned its policy of employing qualified Christian teachers who would subsequently teach Christianity in public schools as a mandatory school subject for national certificate examinations. Now, the role of teaching Christianity to students is restricted to volunteers at their churches and facilities.  The ministry of education has recently compelled Christian schools to work on Saturdays against a tradition that has been maintained for over hundred years. This means schools work only four days a week, which negatively affects   students’ performance and achievements. Even though these schools attempted to challenge this decision, the Ministry of Education was steadfast and robust in refusing their request, threatening those who fall short of implementing its decrees that they will jeopardize their schools being closed down completely, or imposing a hefty fines on them. 

Christian Holidays and Celebrations: 

Before South Sudan independence, Christian festivals were officially recognized and celebrated throughout the country by everyone, (Muslims and other non-Christians alike). The state used to grant all Sudanese people one day to celebrate Christmas, and three days for Christians to celebrate both Christmas and Easter. However, after the session of South Sudan the state decided not to give the official holiday for Christmas celebrations and limited it to Christians only. This forces students in public schools to have to choose either to attend their classes and miss holiday celebrations, or miss school.  

The Media: 

Christian activities and celebrations have no media coverage from the State radio and television outlets. A limited Christian broadcast is allowed on Sundays for one hour. The Christian community in Sudan is prohibited to possess their own media outlets even-though Muslims have every right to do so and also dominate the State media with continuous Islamic programs and broadcasting materials.

Registration of Churches as Organizations:

The state is trying to force the churches to register as organizations. Apparently, some churches have succumbed to this pressure, especially those that do not have membership in the Sudan Council of Churches. But those who had membership with SCC refused to do so for fears of the government’s intent toward dissolving these organizations in the future if they agree to it, as this has happened in the past to certain churches that joined this scheme.

Government Interference in Internal Church Affairs:

Government’s interference in internal church matters has become a systematic, organized, and continuous occurrence. The latest example of this is the bitter dispute which is currently taking place in the Evangelical Church between a group of individuals appointed and employed by the Ministry of Guidance and Endowments to manage the church affairs, versus the genuine ordained church leaders. This issue has now been presented to the courts in Khartoum and will take a lengthy time to be processed and resolved. 

Department of Church Affairs:

The Department of Church Affairs is connected to the Ministry of Guidance and Endowments and is managed and overseen by the national security and intelligence apparatus. They are monitoring all church affairs including leader’s movement, foreign entry visas and their residency. The churches protested against being placed under the supervision of security (though in vain), while other religious groups (such as Islamic) were given a free ride. The church demanded that the director of the Department of Church Affairs should be a Christian individual. Instead, the ministry recently asked church leaders to nominate two people to be employed in this department but did not consider or discuss the position of the departmental director. But the church suspects the ministry wants to appoint two people - one from the Eastern Denominations and one from the Western denominations - in an attempt to split the Church. The churches unanimously rejected this effort because they see it as a deliberate attempt aiming to divide Christians and eventually engage them into a religious conflict.  

Confiscating Christians Cemetery:

It is now officially forbidden in Sudan to bury Christians in Muslims cemeteries. In recent history, during the former presidency of Gaafar Muhammad Nimeiri, there was a piece of land granted to the Christians by the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities and designated as a cemetery for the Christians. But the current city of Khartoum violated this special and rare privilege by converting this land to become a cattle market and car auction without the churches’ consent. The Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) has protested on behalf of the churches in Khartoum regarding this issue but this has all fallen on deaf ears and Christians continue today to be disrespected, demeaned and humiliated even when they are dead bodies. 

Current Civil War:

One of the main reasons for the current ongoing “civil war” in the Sudan is that Christians are atrociously unfairly treated as citizens in their own country. So you will find that many of those carrying arms against the National Islamic Front regime in Khartoum are fighters from areas that are predominantly inhabited by Christians, specifically in the Nuba Mountains. 

Therefore, the government is exploiting this war to target churches, bible schools and innocent Christian gatherings by aerial bombardments and ground shelling, as they pursue a policy of ethnic cleansing through systematic killing and starvation. In addition the government also adopts the policy of destroying its own citizens by means of refusing access to humanitarian organizations to deliver aid goods to the most needy and the most vulnerable people in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile, while  they force Nuba people to live in caves and refugee camps in neighboring countries where they continue to suffer other forms of torture, abuse and mental health problems.