May 9, 2001
Second in a series of articles highlighting religious persecution in Sudan and how Christians are endeavoring to help.
After many years of inattention, it is finally beginning to happen. The world is slowly awakening to the war, slavery and religious persecution that are woven into the national identity of Sudan.
In a recent "Breakpoint" column, Christian author and speaker Charles Colson shared that on May 3, President George W. Bush called Sudan "a disaster area for human rights."
"The president spoke to the American Jewish Committee in Washington [last] Thursday on the subject of religious liberty," Colson explained. "Bush spoke about how America, from its birth, has been committed to religious tolerance and religious freedom.
"The president's strongest words were aimed at the government of Sudan," Colson continued. "The Muslim government is waging war against Christians and other non-Muslims. Some 2 million Sudanese have lost their lives; 4 million more have lost their homes. Hospitals, schools, [and] churches have often been bombed by government warplanes; women and children have been abducted and sold into slavery."
According to Cybercast News Service (CNS), Bush said he will pressure the Sudanese government to stop persecuting Christians. "We must turn the eyes of the world upon the atrocities in Sudan," the president added.
On May 4, the eyes of the world indeed looked at Sudan when it was announced that the United States had been voted off the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, while Sudan was re-elected "despite blatant rights abuses, including slavery."
"I am shocked," Khataza Gondwe, the African representative for Christian Solidarity Worldwide told CNS. "Sudan is one of the greatest violators of human rights. What does this say for human rights and about the U.N. taking human rights seriously? This basically says to southern Sudanese that their lives are worth nothing."
Gondwe told CNS that because of the history of slavery in the United States, the issue tended to touch a chord among Americans, and there seemed to be a groundswell of feeling, pushing the government to taking a firmer line on Sudan. As a result, campaigners say the U.S. role in highlighting Sudanese abuses at the U.N. had been a critical one.
It is interesting to note that in February, the United Nations completed an airlift of 2,500 demobilized child soldiers from combat zones in southern Sudan to UNICEF camps in safer areas about 250 miles southeast.
Behind Battlelines
According to Faith in Action, Sudan has been at war since 1955, with a brief cease-fire during the '70s. "In its essence," say officials at World Vision, "the civil war in Sudan is a Holy War between indigenous African rebels in the south and a dictatorial Muslim government in the north." It was in 1989 that the Khartoum extremist group in the north overthrew a democratically elected Sudanese government.
Faith in Action explains that "the military of northern Sudan (Khartoum) has been persecuting the Christians of southern Sudan by destroying churches, burning their crops, killing their people, banning the Bible and waging a war of terror against them."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has confirmed that "religion is a major factor in the ongoing civil war, and that religion and religious-freedom violations are intertwined with other human rights and humanitarian abuses in Sudan. In the Commission's view, the Sudanese government is committing genocidal atrocities against civilian populations in the southern part of the country and in the Nuba Mountains."
One Ministry Reaches Out to Child Soldiers
Sadly, the war in Sudan has often been fought by soldiers who are merely children. Thousands of boys have been forcibly recruited into military units on both sides of Sudan's civil war. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers cites Sudan as having one of the worst child soldier problems in the world.
According to the International Mission Board (IMB), some boy soldiers who were once forced to fight alongside rebels of the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA) are slowly adjusting to civilian life after being released earlier this year.
More than 1,600 of 2,500 boys released by the SPLA in March have made their way to a refugee camp in Akot, Sudan. The boys, some as young as 8, live in dilapidated buildings and makeshift tents in the camp. UNICEF has pitched in to supply some food, sanitation, a T-shirt, hat and backpack for each boy.
"UNICEF has provided some basic medicines for the boys, (which) seem to be adequate at this time," says John Witte of IMB. While a medical clinic is being planned specifically for the camp, a separate clinic run by Southern Baptist workers and the Samaritan's Purse relief agency is filling in the gap to care for the boys' medical conditions.
"Most of the boys express relief at being anywhere else after their traumatic military experiences," says Witte. "But missionaries fear the boys soon will grow restless as conditions in the camp deteriorate."
IMB is one of the first non-governmental agencies to offer help. "We believe God is giving us an opportunity to work with these boys," Witte adds. "We are responding in three ways: medically, educationally and pastorally."
During the initial survey trip, Witte and Larry Pumpelly, another IMB worker, were able to share Bible stories with the young boys. The missionaries told the boy soldiers about another great boy soldier who defeated a giant.
"(The boys) cheered the skill of David to kill the giant with only a sling shot," Witte said in an IMB report. "I hope and pray they also heard the clear message that God can use even a boy to accomplish His greatest tasks."
