---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "John Ashworth" <[email protected]> Date: 1 Aug 2017 19:31 Subject: [sudans-john-ashworth] Archbishop of Canterbury declares Sudan new Anglican province To: "Group" <[email protected]> Cc:
1. Archbishop of Canterbury declares Sudan new Anglican province MONDAY JULY 31 2017 Daily Nation In Summary - Welby said that creating a 39th Anglican province was a "new beginning" for Christians in Sudan. - He installed Ezekiel Kondo Kumir Kuku as the country's first archbishop and primate. - The idea of a separate Anglican province in Sudan was first discussed in 2009 as it became clear that the south would secede. KHARTOUM Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby on Sunday declared Sudan the 39th province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, six years after the predominantly Christian south gained independence from the north. The Anglican Church in Sudan, a majority Muslim country, has been administered from South Sudan since the 2011 split which followed a civil war that left more than two million people dead. Sunday's ceremony in Khartoum added Sudan to the 85 million-strong worldwide Anglican Communion’s 38 member churches — known as provinces — and six other branches known as extra provincials. Welby said that creating a 39th Anglican province with its own Khartoum-based archbishop was a "new beginning" for Christians in Sudan. FIRST ARCHBISHOP He installed Ezekiel Kondo Kumir Kuku as the country's first archbishop and primate at a ceremony in the capital's All Saints Cathedral attended by American, European and African diplomats as well as hundreds of worshippers. "We welcome the new primate with jubilation," Welby announced to a cheering crowd as he handed a cross to Kuku. Welby, spiritual head of the Church of England and of the global Anglican Communion, said it was a rare opportunity for an archbishop to declare a new primate. "It is a responsibility for Christians to make this province work, and for those outside (Sudan) to support, to pray and to love this province," he said. "The church must learn to be sustainable financially, to develop the skills of its people, and to bless this country as the Christians here already do." SOUTH'S SECESSION The idea of a separate Anglican province in Sudan was first discussed in 2009 as it became clear that the south would secede. Previously, the Episcopal Church of Sudan and South Sudan administered the region, Reverend Francis Clement of All Saints Cathedral told AFP. "But after the split it was decided to have a separate, autonomous Episcopal Church of Sudan," he said. "Today, we inaugurated that. It will have its own autonomous administration to take its own decisions." There is no central Anglican authority such as a pope, with each member church making its own decision in its own ways guided by the Archbishop of Canterbury. PERSECUTION Human rights and Christian campaign groups have regularly accused the Sudanese authorities of persecuting Christians and even destroying churches in the capital since the north-south split. About three years ago two South Sudanese pastors, Yat Michael and Peter Yen, were arrested in Sudan on charges including spying and crimes against the state. The two, arrested by agents of Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS), were released by a Khartoum court in August last year. Since the 1989 coup that brought Islamist backed President Omar al-Bashir to power, authorities in Khartoum have pursued Arabising and Islamising policies in a bid to unify the country. This has stirred resentment and helped trigger a devastating civil war that ended with the secession of the mainly Christian south. WELBY MEETS BASHIR Later on Sunday, Welby met Bashir with whom he discussed issues concerning "protection" of Christians and churches in Sudan. "We talked of how in England we seek to help mosques in ensuring that they are able to function well and freely," Welby said. "In England, the Church of England often seeks to protect Muslims when they are under pressure," he said, indicating that he expected the same in Sudan when it came to protecting Christians. Christian communities in Sudan today are mostly found in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state. Experts say that between three and five percent of Sudan's about 25 million population are Christian. US President Donald Trump is to decide on October 12 whether to permanently lift sanctions imposed in 1997 over Khartoum's alleged backing for Islamist militant groups. Several campaign groups have urged Washington to maintain the sanctions or formulate new ones to address concerns over human rights violations, including alleged religious repression. http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Sudan-new-Anglican- province/1066-4039096-nna23qz/index.html END1 2. Archbishop of Canterbury speaks ‘strongly’ to Sudan President of religious freedom for Christians July 31, 2017 By World Watch Monitor The advent of the world’s newest country, South Sudan, in 2011 has not been without its impact. Not only has it spawned a civil war and one of the world’s biggest current humanitarian crises, but also the need for a new Province in the global Anglican Communion. This weekend, the Archbishop of Canterbury was in Khartoum to inaugurate the Communion’s 39th Province, that of Sudan. Previously, after independence, the Anglican Province of Sudan and South Sudan had been headquartered in South Sudan, where the majority of the Anglican Episcopal Church of Sudan’s (ECS) four-and-a-half million members live. South Sudan has since been wracked by civil war along first political, then tribal lines, and it was also difficult for a Primate based in a neighbouring country to oversee the Church in Sudan*. Now the ECS in Sudan has a new Primate, Archbishop Ezekiel Kumir Kondo Kuku who was formally installed in All Saints’ Cathedral, Khartoum on Saturday. He had already become the first Archbishop of Sudan in 2014 for a new internal Anglican Province, made up of five dioceses, intended to address the new political reality. Justin Welby hailed Sunday’s ceremony in Khartoum as a “new beginning” for Christians in Sudan. He also told the BBC that, when he had met the Sudanese President (the day after the ceremony) he had raised the issue of religious freedom “strongly” with Omar al-Bashir. “In England, the Church of England often seeks to protect Muslims when they are under pressure,” Welby told AFP, suggesting, the agency said, that he expected the same in Sudan when it came to protecting Christians. The Province’s launch comes weeks after Sudan’s most well-known Christian (who hit global headlines in 2014 when sentenced to death for apostasy and 100 lashes for adultery) told an annual meeting at the European Parliament (EP) that the plight of Christians in Sudan is getting worse. Dr Mariam Ibrahim told how her story (including imprisonment for six months) is not unique. Sudan is one of ten countries featured in the 2017 Interim Report of the EP Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance. The report says of Sudan that “religious diversity continues to be extensively challenged. Laws from the 1991 criminal code on apostasy and blasphemy have not been applied within all the states. This violates both the international agreements signed by Sudan, and contradicts its interim Constitution of 2005”. The Intergroup is also concerned about the prevalence of Sharia (Islamic law) and the consequences for religious minorities. As Dr Ibrahim told World Watch Monitor in Brussels, under Sudan’s interpretation of Sharia, a daughter’s religion is defined as that of her father, so that she was treated as a Muslim, despite her Ethiopian Orthodox mother raising her as a Christian. Her marriage to a South Sudanese Christian in church was first treated as “adultery”, and then she was treated as an apostate – deserving the death penalty. Ibrahim, now living in exile in the United States, talked about the discrimination faced by Christians in Sudan (whom she now runs a charity to support through advocacy): “You can’t say… as the Sudanese government says: ‘We respect the freedom of religion’. They’re saying that, they keep saying that… The other day a representative at the UN Council [said] ‘We are respecting’… But you can’t say that at the same time as you are arresting [a] Christian woman because she’s not wearing a headscarf, or all that stuff.” Ibrahim ended by stressing that her problems were symptomatic of those currently faced by the Christian community in Sudan: the most current being the demolition of churches, an issue raised with its government by the EU Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Ján Figeľ, when he visited in March. Then, the Minister for Religious Endowments had promised him a delay to demolition plans of more than 25 churches, ranging from Catholic to Coptic Orthodox, the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) and Pentecostal Churches. However, since then that Minister has been replaced, at least two more churches have been demolished and a church worker killed when he tried to intervene to defend church property from government takeover. These latest church demolitions (both were of Sudan Church of Christ churches, a smaller denomination than the ECS) prompted a bold “open” letter from that denomination’s leaders to their government, protesting about “the systematic violation of Christian religious freedoms”. Apart from demolition of churches, they detailed the “hard conditions” they have faced in recent years, including confiscation of church property, government failure to allocate land for construction of any new churches, and travel restrictions on senior church leaders. Figeľs visit to Sudan in March was also to seek the release of two Sudanese pastors who had not been released when the Czech aid worker they were helping was freed – after a year in prison – by Presidential pardon in February. (They were eventually released in May). However, the Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of seeing Christians and Muslims “co-existing powerfully and effectively” when he had visited the southern diocese of Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains (where there are a significant number of Christians) before the Khartoum ceremony. Such tolerant co-existence needed freedom, Welby said. “My prayer for Sudan is that there will be freedom continually so that Christians may live confidently, blessing their country. The more they are free, the more they will be a blessing to Sudan,” he said. He also praised the Khartoum government for welcoming refugees from the conflict in South Sudan and thanked it for sending representatives to the inauguration service. “No government anywhere in the world need fear Christians,” he told them. Abu Bakr Osman, the new Minister of Religious Guidance and Endowments, said he was “overwhelmed with happiness” at the occasion of the launch of the new Anglican province. He said there was a feeling of the country coming together and that living in harmony and unity would be a source of strength, reported the Anglican Communion News Service. The Archbishop of Canterbury flew on from Khartoum to northern Uganda to visit refugee camps. Uganda, which registered more refugees than any other country in 2016, has taken in around a million people who have fled across the border to escape the fighting in South Sudan. The Archbishop of Canterbury is to visit the camps with the Primate of Uganda, Archbishop Stanley Ntagali. In January 2016, Ntagali left the Anglican Primates’ conference early, objecting to the process by which the Primates were to discuss the Church’s stance towards the Episcopal Church USA and the Anglican Church of Canada over same-sex marriage. *(World Christian Database 2017: estimated at about two million, roughly half Catholic/Orthodox and half Protestant.) https://www.worldwatchmonitor.org/2017/07/archbishop-of- canterbury-speaks-strongly-to-sudan-president-of-religious- freedom-for-christians/ END2 3. Archbishop of Canterbury launches calls for peace in Sudan from Kadugli July 29, 2017 (KHARTOUM) - The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Wilby, launched a call for peace and reconciliation from the capital of South Kordofan Kadugli, where he travelled immediately after his arrival in Khartoum. The Church of England’s spiritual leader arrived in Khartoum on Saturday. On Sunday, he will inaugurate the Anglican Church of Sudan, which will be the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion. Upon his arrival at the airport Khartoum, he was received by the undersecretary of the ministry of religious affairs Hamid Youssef Adam and a number of local church officials. Following what he travelled to Kadugli to meet church leaders and visit camps of displaced people and refugees there. In a written statement he released on his Facebook page from the capital of South Kordofan, the leader of Anglican Church welcomed the efforts of the Sudanese government towards refugees from South Sudan. "Sudan sets an example to many around the world in its welcome to those in need. I’m sure it’s a great pressure on the government and local people to receive such large numbers, and the people of Sudan have shown true humanity," he said. He further called for peace and reconciliation in Sudan saying it is the wish of ordinary people who are affected by the armed conflict in the troubled region. "In Kadugli today I heard inspiring stories from Christian and Muslim leaders who want peace, and who are actively working together to achieve it. They need peace. They understand more than anyone else the cost of war". "Peacemaking is the call of God on us all. So join me in praying for peace. Pray for those in areas of difficulty. Pray that they will know that they are not forgotten," he further wrote. The South Kordofan is witnessing a six-year war between the government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N). The warring parties failed to reach a humanitarian cessation of hostilities despite regional and international efforts in this respect. On Sunday the Archbishop of Canterbury will open the 39th Province of the Anglican Communion with the participation of Sudanese government officials and Christian and Muslim leaders. The Anglican missionary began its activities in the twin capital city of Omdurman before to spread in the country particularly in the southern parties of the country. Until 1974, the Diocese of Sudan was part of the Jerusalem archbishopric. The province of Sudan was established in 1976. After, the independence of South Sudan in July 2011it moved to Juba to be the Province of South Sudan and Sudan. The new province which will be declared on Sunday 30 July will consist of five dioceses in El Obeid, Kadugli, Khartoum, Port Sudan, and Wad Medani. (ST) https://sudantribune.com/spip.php?article63111 END3 ______________________ John Ashworth [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile) +44 787 976 8030 (UK mobile) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) Skype: jashworth1 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. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. 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