Sudan

The situation in Darfur remains "very serious," according to Christian humanitarians working in Sudan's conflict-ridden region.

Although the level of violence appears to have subsided in many of the areas where they work, members of the Action by Churches Together network working in Darfur say there is still a widespread lack of security that discourages people from returning to their home areas.

This, they added, is manifested in the regular reports of banditry and carjackings, especially in rural areas. more >>

An official of South Sudan’s government says Sudan is in danger of witnessing another civil war between the Muslim north and the Christian and animist south unless the international community intervenes.

The National Congress Party, headed by President Omar al-Bashir, has repeatedly broken the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the country’s bloody two-decade-long civil war, reported Ezekiel Lol Gatkuoth, head of government of South Sudan Mission to the United States, to International Christian Concern.

As a result of the North’s failure, the delicate peace process is in danger of being derailed, he said. more >>

NAIROBI, Kenya (Compass Direct News) – A Sudanese woman who fled to Egypt after converting from Islam to Christianity is living in secluded isolation as her angry family members try to track her down.

Howida Ali’s Muslim brother and her ex-husband began searching for her in Cairo earlier this year after a relative there reported her whereabouts to them. While there, her brother and ex-husband tried to seize her 10-year-old son from school.

“I’m afraid of my brother finding us,” said the 38-year-old Ali, who has moved to another area. “Their aim is to take us back to Sudan, and there they will force us to return to the Islamic faith or sentence us to death according to Islamic law.” more >>

The peace process in Sudan has reached a critical point, church leaders in the war-torn nation reported Monday.

With less than five months before national elections, leaders of Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) said the 2005 Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement is on the brink of collapse due to contentions over the referendum law, the demarcation of the January 1956 borders, and violence recently perpetrated by other armed groups.

Southern Sudan, meanwhile, is being threatened with famine due to the failure of rains in various parts of the country this year. more >>

The chief archbishop of the Episcopal Church of Sudan is calling upon the international community to urge their respective government officials to be more active in the effort to bring peace to the conflict-stricken country.

In his appeal, the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak, archbishop and primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, highlighted the recent attacks on people in the Sudanese states of Western Equatoria and Jonglei, where over forty people – men, women, and children – were killed.

“Consequently in the view of the Church, this was not a tribal conflict as commonly reported, but a deliberately organized attack on civilians by those that are against the peace in Southern Sudan,” Deng stated, referring to the attack last month in Jonglei that also left an archdeacon dead. more >>

Poverty and suffering in Sudan’s Darfur region and in south Sudan are at such high levels that there is a permanent humanitarian crisis there, according to a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations.

Insecurity both in Darfur and in south Sudan risks further destabilizing the region and creating greater levels of suffering, warned Caritas Internationalis ahead of a meeting of leaders at its Vatican-based headquarters this week.

“Sudan faces a lot of challenges,” Catholic Bishop Eduardo Kussala of Tombura Yambio commented. “There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis. People don’t have access to healthcare, education, water and protection from high levels of violence.” more >>