SUDAN

Sudan Continues Attacks on Christians

By Gary Lane
CWNews

July 30, 2004

CWNews.org – The U.S. Congress has passed a resolution calling the Sudanese government's war on black Africans in Darfur, Sudan, genocide. By doing so, the Congress hopes to pressure the United Nations to take action in Darfur.

But lost in the tragedy are the recent atrocities committed against Christians and animists in South Sudan.

Kenneth Roth is with Human Rights Watch. He said the group has documents proving Khartoum's military support of the Janjaweed in Darfur.

Roth said the documents, "…show the provision of military support to the Janjaweed, including the provision of arms."

Another important document was released. But this one gained little media attention.

It is from the Persecution Project Foundation and is a partial list of recent massacre victims in the village of Akobo-the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan. More than 200 Sudanese-mostly Christians and animists-were slaughtered in early May by militias supported by the government of Sudan.

Among the dead were children as young as one and two years old. While the Khartoum regime is close to signing a final peace deal, to end its war with Southern Sudanese Christians, it is continuing its jihad against them-especially in the oil-rich region of the Upper Blue Nile.

A Shilluk man explained what happened when Janjaweed, accompanied by government troops, attacked his village in the middle of the night. He told us, "When they started shooting, we just ran into the river. We just jumped into the river and some of the kids did not know how to swim and some of them just drowned."

A Shilluk woman's husband and daughter were kidnapped. One Janjaweed demanded sex with her sister, she said, then added, "One of the government troops came in there and talked to my sister, politely at first and tried to have a relationship with her. She refused and he decided to rape her and took her with them. I don't even know if she is alive."

Meanwhile in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said the international community was completely dissatisfied with the security situation in Darfur. But he said nothing about the recent massacre of Christians in the Upper Blue Nile.

Sudanese president Omar El-Bashir promised Powell last month he would take action to stop the Janjaweed from committing rapes and other atrocities against the people of Darfur.

But Powell says Khartoum hasn't done enough. Possible global action may be necessary to help the more than one million refugees.

Some Christians in South Sudan say atrocities against them are continuing despite numerous cease-fire agreements.

They say broken promises on Darfur are more of the same, and only prove what they've known for 21 years: the radical Islamic regime in Khartoum cannot be trusted.

And, they add, if Washington continues to 'dance with devil', it's likely to eventually get burned.

Visit the Persecution Project Web site.

Visit the Human Rights Watch Web site.

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