---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:13 AM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Priests kidnapped, tensions grow in Sudan To: Group <[email protected]>
My own sources confirm most of what is in the first report (below). The name of the militia group is known, as are other details which are probably best kept quiet for the moment. As Bishop Daniel Adwok says, it is "not an isolated incident". South Sudanese militia continue to abduct South Sudanese in the Republic of Sudan with impunity. On 6th January 2012 I was told, "last Tuesday a man with his two [boy] children was abducted by the police at night [in Hai Yusif] leaving the girls and the mother. All the homes with boys are targeted. Many people are commenting that the movement of police at night in the search of young Southerners is on the rise" and on 17th January, "They are picking up boys in Khartoum as you know; it seems Olony is behind this. They captured 5 boys the other day and arrested 3 men with them; it seems the men were killed and one of them was an uncle of [xxx]. These are bad developments." The second article may be the beginning of another worrying trend. There are laws regulating "missionary" activity; "missionaries" are usually construed as foreigners; South Sudanese in the Republic of South Sudan are now "foreigners"; therefore they are not allowed to preach or evangelise. Since most of the Church members and leaders in Sudan are from South Sudan (with the notable exception of Orthodox and other Eastern Churches, and groups such as the Nuba in the Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches), this could prove very damaging for Church life in Sudan. "Christianity is now regarded as a foreign religion". John BEGIN 1. Sudan: priests kidnapped, tensions grow January 18, 2012 CatholicCulture.org The kidnapping of two Catholic priests--a crime with distinct political overtones--has increased fears for the Christian religious minority in Sudan. Father Joseph Makwey and Father Sylvester Mogga were seized on January 15 by a militia band that broke into their parish compound in Rabak, south of the capital city of Khartoum. The armed men ransacked the rectory, stealing computers and other valuables. According to the Fides news service, the kidnappers charged that the parish was harboring a former member of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, the group that fought successfully for the independence of South Sudan. Christians in Sudan report that since South Sudan became a separate nation, former residents of that nation have encountered severe hostility--and sometimes violence and intimidation--in the north. Bishop Daniel Adwok, an auxiliary of the Khartoum archdiocese, criticized the government for its failure to protect citizens from militia violence. Saying that the kidnapping of the two priests was not an isolated incident, he said that "the authorities must be called to account for what it going on." http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=13020 END1 2. Sudan Threatens To Arrest Church Leaders Written by: Compass Direct News January 18, 2012 Sudan’s Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments has threatened to arrest church leaders if they carry out evangelistic activities and do not comply with an order for churches to provide their names and contact information, Christian sources said. The warning in a Jan. 3 letter to church leaders of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) arrived a few days after Sudan President Omar al-Bashir told cheering crowds on Jan. 3 that, following the secession of largely non-Islamic south Sudan last July, the country’s constitution will be more deeply entrenched in sharia (Islamic law). “We will take legal procedures against pastors who are involved in preaching or evangelistic activities,” Hamid Yousif Adam, undersecretary of the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowment, wrote to the church leaders. “We have all legal rights to take them to court.” Sources said the order was aimed at oppressing Christians amid growing hostilities toward Christianity. “This is a critical situation faced by our church in Sudan,” said the Rev. Yousif Matar, secretary general of the SPEC. Another church leader said the order was another in a series of measures by the government to control churches. “They do not want pastors from South Sudan to carry on any church activities or mission work in Sudan,” he said. Sudanese law prohibits missionaries from evangelizing, and converting from Islam to another religion is punishable by imprisonment or death in Sudan, though previously such laws were not strictly enforced. The government has never carried out a death sentence for apostasy, according to the U.S. State Department’s latest International Religious Freedom Report. Christians are facing growing threats from both Muslim communities and Islamist government officials who have long wanted to rid Sudan of Christianity, Christian leaders told Compass. They said Christianity is now regarded as a foreign religion following the departure of 350,000 people, most of them Christians, to South Sudan following the July 9, 2011 secession. Sudan’s Interim National Constitution (INC) holds up sharia as a source of legislation, and the laws and policies of the government favor Islam, according to the state department report. Christian leaders said they fear the government is tightening controls on churches in Sudan and planning to force compliance with Islamic law as part of a strategy to eliminate Christianity. As he has several times in the past year, Al-Bashir on Jan. 3 once again warned that Sudan’s constitution will be more firmly entrenched in sharia. “We are an Islamic nation with sharia as the basis of our constitution,” he told crowds in Kosti, south of Khartoum. “We will base our constitution on Islamic laws.” His government subsequently issued the decree ordering church leaders to provide names and contact information of church leaders in Sudan, sources said. Christian leaders said the government is retaliating for churches’ perceived pro-West position. Muslim scholars have urged heavy-handed measures against Christians to Al-Bashir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Darfur. Hostilities Christians in (north) Sudan celebrated last Christmas amid several threats from officials in Khartoum, and some followers of Christ were arrested for their faith, sources said. Yasir Musa of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) was arrested along with two other church members by national security agents in Khartoum on Dec. 23; they were detained because they were Christians and therefore suspected supporters of southern military forces. Released shortly afterward, they said authorities threatened to arrest them again if they did not comply with orders not to carry out Christian activities in the Islamic nation. SCOC leaders said they have complained to the Ministry of Guidance and Religious Endowments and were told that the three were arrested for security reasons. In another case, sources said that Islamic militias loyal to the government in civilian uniform abducted a church leader and two church members as they were returning from a worship service and demanded $1,000 in ransom. They were released after two days, according to Christian sources in Khartoum. Christians in Khartoum increasingly fear arrests by militias loyal to the Islamic government, the sources said. Security agencies in Khartoum have also ordered local Christians not to organize Bible exhibitions, as some churches have done annually, the sources said. The pressures on Christians come as war in Sudan’s South Kordofan state has led leaders there and in North Kordofan to incite hatred against Christians, with officials in both states calling for holy war against the predominantly Christian Nuba people. http://www.eurasiareview.com/18012012-sudan-threatens-to-arrest-church-leaders/ END2 ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan, South Sudan Advisor [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. 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