Sudan

The offices of the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) and the offices of relief organization Sudan Aid, both in the Darfur region, have reportedly been closed down by the Sudanese government without warning. Observers suspect Sudan's reported war on religious minorities, specifically Christians, may have been motivation for the closures.

Given the context of the Muslim government's reported animosity toward non-Islamic groups, the news coming from the SCC has attracted widespread criticism from the Christian community.

The Sudan Council of Churches' offices are located in Nyala, the main city of Southern Darfur state. The SCC officials told the press last week that on April 22, just as they came to work like on any other day, agents from the Sudanese National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) showed up, ordering the staff to hand over keys to the premisses as well as company vehicles. Then, the authorities ordered SCC staff to leave immediately, without providing explanation, the organization said. more >>

The United Nations launched an urgent appeal on Tuesday calling for emergency assistance for the millions of Southern Sudanese who are facing staggering levels of food insecurity.

The World Food Program estimates that around 4.7 million people in South Sudan are in need of food assistance with an estimated 1 million people set to suffer from food insecurity in 2012, and another 3.7 million people likely to face significant vulnerabilities to food insecurity.

"There are food shortages, there is conflict related displacements, there is agricultural disruption, the economy is deteriorating and the borders have been closed. You add up all that and that is why we have the kind of situation that we are in," UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Lisa Grande, told reporters on Tuesday regarding the situation in South Sudan. more >>

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir declared a state of emergency Sunday along much of its border with South Sudan amid growing hostilities between the two countries over disputed oil-rich areas.

President al-Bashir's resolution was announced by the country's official news agency SUNA on Sunday, the day clashes between South Sudan's army and a militia group allegedly backed by Sudan left 21 people dead in Malakal, a border city in South Sudan.

On Saturday, Sudanese aircraft allegedly bombed the border town of Panakuach in South Sudan's Unity State, according to the Sudan Tribune. Sudan also arrested a Briton, a Norwegian, a South African and a South Sudanese for illegally entering into Heglig. The Sudanese government accused them of spying for South Sudan, which denied the allegation saying they were from aid groups connected with the United Nations and had lost their way. more >>

Hundreds of Muslims incinerated a Catholic church complex in the capital Khartoum amid growing hostilities between the Arab-dominated Muslim government of Sudan and the newly independent, predominantly Christian nation of South Sudan.

A mob of several hundred shouting insults at southerners torched the church in Khartoum's Al-Jiraif district Saturday, The Associated Press reported. The church complex, which included a school and dormitories, was mostly used by southerners.

Fire fighters could not put out the fire, according to witnesses. more >>

JUBA, South Sudan – As tensions between Sudan and South Sudan turn into military combat on the border, predominantly Christian citizens of southern origin trapped in Sudan fear the Islamic government and Muslims in general will turn on them, sources told Compass.

Officially foreigners though many of the half million southern Sudanese in Sudan have never lived anywhere else, the ethnic southerners have been granted another 30 days as of April 8 to register or leave the country. But the government has forbidden hundreds of ethnic southerners from boarding planes for Juba, saying they require documents from the southern capital in order to leave.

"They closed all ways in front of us in order to prevent us from travel to our country," said one church leader. more >>

JUBA, South Sudan – Christians from South Sudan who have until Easter Sunday (April 8) to try to become citizens of Sudan or be deported fear authorities will use the occasion to rid the country of Christianity, church leaders said.

More than 500,000 citizens of southern ethnic origin who have been living in Sudan for decades – some of them born there – will be considered foreigners after Sunday. Human rights organizations have called on Khartoum to grant them more time to either leave or apply for citizenship.

Christian leaders expressed concern that local media such as the daily Al Intibaha newspaper have been stoking hatred against predominantly Christian southern Sudanese, describing them as "cancer cells in the body of Sudan, the land of the Arab and Islam," and calling on the government to deport them. more >>