By Ashraf Helmy –
The Christian minority in Sudan has continued to suffer systematic violations over the past years, whether at the hands of the ruling Islamic regimes or terrorist organizations and groups, in addition to government-supported and recognized Islamic institutions and parties. Like other countries with Christian minorities, particularly in the Middle East, the Christians in Sudan and Egypt have suffered greatly under the former Islamist regimes of Bashir (in Sudan) and Morsi (in Egypt). They faced racial discrimination and terrorist attacks on their lives, churches, and properties, which made headlines in global media and were condemned by most countries and human rights organizations. Reports from various international bodies on religious freedoms confirmed these violations.
Their situation improved somewhat after the change of those ruling regimes, but not by much, as most of the officials in these countries adhere to Wahhabi ideology. However, the outbreak of the ongoing war between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese army last year cast a heavy shadow on Sudanese Christians. The Rapid Support Forces launched barbaric attacks on innocent people’s homes, stripping them of their properties, and brutally attacking dozens of churches, some of which were turned into military barracks.
These crimes are a blatant violation of international law and human rights, and are no less severe than what the terrorist organization ISIS did in Syria and Iraq. For example, the attack on St. George’s Church in the Al-Masalma neighborhood in Omdurman (under the jurisdiction of Bishop Sarapamon, Bishop of Atbara, Omdurman, and Northern Sudan) involved threats with weapons, shooting at those inside the church, looting its property, stealing donation money, and vandalizing the church building, including the bishop’s residence. Similarly, the attack on the Church of the Virgin Mary, the headquarters of the Khartoum Diocese (under the jurisdiction of Bishop Elijah, Bishop of Khartoum and Omdurman), saw rebels destroy and vandalize the church, seize it, and convert it into a center for managing their military operations.
Following these bloody events that targeted the Christian minority in Sudan, which is estimated to number around 2 million and approximately 5% of the population, those with financial means fled to neighboring countries, while the global conscience and international law, which have failed to protect Christian minorities in many African and Middle Eastern countries, remained silent. The poor, who could not afford to leave, were left stranded in several Coptic churches, which were transformed into refugee camps under the supervision of bishops who refused to leave Sudan and decided to stay by the side of their people.
All of this happens without any attention from Western countries in providing humanitarian aid or addressing their difficult living conditions, ignoring the majority of their requests for migration or assylum, and their pleas for help. This is in contrast to how these countries have responded to refugees from Syria, Iraq, and recently Gaza, accepting thousands of them without even verifying their documents or checking if they were part of terrorist groups. Now, these countries suffer from terrorist operations carried out by some of the migrants who were accepted based on their beliefs, as seen recently in Germany and France. This will not stop unless these countries change their policies regarding migration requests from Middle Eastern countries and amend their laws concerning migrants who want to impose their laws and beliefs by force before the situation escalates into civil wars, echoing the historical expulsion of invaders from Spain and its long-ago purification.
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Translated and adapted from:
[…] Helmy, Ashraf. “The Suffering Christians of Sudan, and the Deliberate Absence of Global Conscience.” Coptic Solidarity. Aug. 28, 2024. Accessed from https://www.copticsolidarity.org/2024/08/28/the-suffering-christians-of-sudan-and-the-deliberate-abs…. […]