A group of Christians were arrested and held by one of the warring factions in Sudan after they were forced to flee fighting in their region.
As many as 95 Christians were arrested in the first week of October by members of the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in River Nile State, northern Sudan.
According to Osama Saeed Musa Koudi, president of the Sudanese Christian Youth Union, this included 16 men, 25 women, and 54 children.
War damage in Khartoum. Fierce fighting here had forced the group of Christians to seek refuge in the north of Sudan. [Image credit: Sudan War Monitor]
The detainees may have suffered abuse and ill-treatment during their imprisonment.
The women and children are reported to have been released. It is not clear if any of the men have been released or, if so, how many are still being held.
The Christians are from the Nuba minority ethnic group. In the past few weeks they have fled fierce fighting in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.
SAF forces supposedly held them on suspicion of being collaborators with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the other party in the civil war that began in April 2023.
Persecution and Humanitarian Disaster
Ethnic and religious minorities have been targeted by both the SAF and RSF during the conflict.
The Sudanese Council of Churches has reported multiple attacks on church leaders and church buildings. Churches have been looted or used as military bases, and several have been burned down.
Many Christians are among the 2.3 million Sudanese who have fled to neighboring countries and 2.2 million who have been internally displaced.
The Christian minority in the Republic of Sudan, estimated at 3%, faced severe persecution for decades until the ousting of Omar al-Bashir’s Islamist government in April, 2019. The Christians arrested this month belonged to a congregation that saw its church building demolished in 2014.
The civil war has plunged Sudan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, with 1.5 million people at risk of famine or already experiencing famine.
Pray that our brothers and sisters will recover from their ordeal, and that any still being held will be released. Ask for a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict that will allow Sudan’s humanitarian needs to be met.
