Tag: Sudan

Sudan court rules in favour of church in governance dispute

August 10, 2018 Sudan Bibles, Churches, Omar al-Bashir, Sanctions, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ, Terrorism, USA

Several churches are in conflict with the Sudanese government over ownership of their properties and are facing fines and destruction of church buildings. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Sudanese court has surprisingly ruled against the government in a case against the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC) after a long-standing dispute over ownership of the church’s property. Five church leaders, including the SCOC president Ayouba Telyan, appeared in court on Wednesday, 8 August, expecting to have to defend . . . Read More

Freed Czech charity worker recalls finding hell and heaven in Sudan’s jails

July 13, 2018 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Hassan Taour, Islamic State, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Petr Jašek, Prisons, Sudan, Sudanese Church of Christ

The Czech aid worker who spent 14 ½ months behind bars in Sudan has said he counted his experience a “privilege” because it enabled him to share his Christian faith with Sudanese prisoners, and praised the country’s “very courageous” Christian minority. Petr Jašek also told World Watch Monitor that two . . . Read More

US envoy supports Sudan’s removal from ‘sponsors of terrorism’ list

July 10, 2018 Sudan North Korea, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, USA

US charge d'affaires in Sudan, Steven Koutsis, in the harbour of Port Sudan on the red sea coast, as a US ship is unloading humanitarian aid supplies provided by the US development agency, on 5 June 2018. (Photo: ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

The US charge d’affaires in Khartoum has told Sudan that he will channel “all … energy and focus” into having Sudan removed from the US’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, reports AFP. Steven Koutsis, speaking during the 4 July celebration at the embassy in the Sudanese capital, welcomed Sudan’s . . . Read More

Religious freedom ‘essential goal’ in normalising relations with Sudan – US commission

June 28, 2018 Sudan Churches, Darfur, Human rights, Khartoum, Minorities, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, USA

While church properties were returned to the SCOC, other church bodies like SPEC are also in conflict with the government over the ownership of their properties in Bahri (Khartoum North) and Omdurman. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A new report highlights the lack of religious freedom in Sudan and says improvements in this area remain “an essential goal” for the US before relations between the two countries can be fully normalised. A delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan advisory body, . . . Read More

CAR’s clerics warn against attempts to divide Christians and Muslims

June 1, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Antonio Guterres, Bambari, Bangui, Central African Republic, Chad, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, IDPs, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, PK5, Seleka, Sudan, UN, UPC

The three top faith leaders of the Central African Republic (CAR), who have won international recognition for their efforts to end conflict in the country, have blamed foreign mercenaries for a recent upsurge in violence. One month ago today, the relative calm enjoyed by the capital, Bangui, was shattered when . . . Read More

Ten killed as Christian college attacked in South Sudan

May 17, 2018 South Sudan Dinka, Education, Mundri, Nuer, Riek Machar, Salva Kiir, South Sudan, SPLM-N, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Yei

Residential accommodation at Emmanuel Christian Training Centre in Goli, South Sudan. (Photo: Open Doors International, 2009)

At least ten people, including five children, have been killed in an attack on a college in South Sudan teaching Theology, Education and Business, according to the Christian charity Open Doors International. Three guards and five students – one secondary and four primary school pupils – were among the victims . . . Read More

Sudan: ‘Put brakes on’ normalising relations, rights groups tell US

May 16, 2018 Sudan Churches, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sahel, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, UK, USA

A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier in South Kordofan state where thousands of people fled the Nuba Mountains in 2012 to escape fighting between the rebel group and the government's armed forces. (Photo: ADRIANE OHANESIAN/AFP/GettyImages)

Rights groups have urged the United States to refrain from removing Sudan from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. “New circumstances have emerged in Sudan that make US efforts at full normalisation dramatically ill-timed,” said the Washington DC-based Enough Project in a recent report. The NGO, which focuses on . . . Read More

Sudan: Four Christians charged, 36 others to stand trial

April 19, 2018 Sudan Bahri, Omdurman, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Younan Abdulla

Girl reading her Bible in Sudan where Christians and other minorities are still under pressure despite a change of government in 2019 (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

New charges have been brought against four members of one of the country’s major Protestant denominations. Thirty-six others will appear in court next week on unspecified charges; five others have been acquitted. Azhari Tambra, Mina Mata, George Adem and Kodi Abdulraheem were charged on 11 April with “causing physical harm . . . Read More

Czech aid worker recounts torture by IS convicts in Sudan prison

April 10, 2018 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Al-Qaeda, Hassan Taour, Islamic State, Petr Jašek, Sudan, Torture

The Czech aid worker released in February 2017 after being imprisoned for 14 months in Sudan on spying charges has revealed how he was tortured by fellow inmates,. Petr Jasek explained at a conference in the US organised by charity Voice of the Martyrs that he was treated like a . . . Read More

Sudan government demolishes church despite pending appeal

February 12, 2018 Sudan Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Sudanese Church of Christ

A church belonging to the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) denomination in the Khartoum suburb of Haj Yousif was demolished yesterday (11 February). The police arrived with three lorries shortly after the Sunday morning service and confiscated furniture, Bibles and musical instruments, before knocking down the 29-year-old building. The demolition . . . Read More

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