Barnabas Fund, 23 May 2023 (excerpts)
The warring parties in Sudan have agreed to a seven-day ceasefire that began on the evening of 22 May – although reports indicated that fighting continued in some areas.
Although this conflict is not specifically anti-Christian, there have been several reports of attacks on churches and church leaders in this Muslim-majority country.
Masked gunmen raided a church in Omdurman, a city on across the River Nile from the capital Khartoum.
The gunmen fired at church leaders and worshippers, severely injuring five. They insulted the Christians, calling them infidels and “sons of dogs”, telling them they should convert to Islam.
Sudan has been governed by Islamic law since 1983, one of only a few countries in modern times where the death penalty for apostasy has been carried out.
In 1994 two Christians from a tribal group, converts from Islam in the early 1970s, were executed by crucifixion.
In 2022, 4 Christian converts were charged with apostasy, despite the apostasy law having been abolished 2 years earlier. Thankfully the case against the 4 was dismissed.
The recent violence has laid bare the Islamist attitudes in Sudan. No wonder many believers have fled for refuge in neighbouring countries such as Egypt and South Sudan.