Christian children in a Sudanese refugee camp are having to recite Islamic prayers before receiving food, according to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).
A source, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, told ACN: “We have heard stories where children are conditioned to say Islamic prayers before [being] given food. This is not right. These children are Christian. They should be respected for that.”
There are an estimated 700,000 South Sudanese Christian refugees in Sudan. “The majority are left in camps, some in a very terrible situation,” the source said.
Also, according to ACN, refugee families are finding it hard to survive on food provided by the government, with some forced to buy provisions from the local market, where, according to the charity, items provided by the UN are being sold “still in wrappers marked with UNICEF or UNHCR logos”.
The ACN source said the Khartoum government is “hampering charities” by not allowing “agencies to give support, including Church agencies”.
Sudan is at number five on the Open Doors 2017 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to live as a Christian. World Watch Monitor has reported the recent destruction of several churches in and around Khartoum, and the situation of the people of the Nuba Mountains, who have been the subject of “ethnic cleansing”, according to Christian charity Open Doors.