Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 698 | Wed 21 June 2023
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SUDAN: HELL IN KHARTOUM, GENOCIDE IN DARFUR, EL OBEID BESIEGED, NUBA MTS BOMBED.
By Elizabeth Kendal
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| Excellent short backgrounder: Sudan and its Endgames, MEMRI, 24 April 2023 |
On 15 April 2023 conflict erupted in Khartoum between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF, led by General Abdul Fattah al-Burhan) and its former partner, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (‘Hemedti’). The SAF represents the Arab-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood-led Deep State of former president Omar al-Bashir. Meanwhile, the RSF’s interests lie primarily in preserving its own power as an independent paramilitary, along with the wealth it garners through its control of Darfur’s gold mines. Comprised mostly of Darfurian Arabs, the RSF was established in 2013 and is used as a regime proxy by the Arab supremacists in Khartoum to wage genocide against Darfur’s predominantly Muslim, long-marginalised, rebellious black African tribes. It was the insistence that the RSF be integrated into the SAF – something rejected by the RSF, as well as many of the SAF’s professional soldiers who despise the RSF as little more than gangsters – that ultimately triggered the current conflict.
Today, Darfur’s black African tribes are once again facing genocide at the hands of Arab janjaweed militias backed by Hemedti’s RSF which is determined to eliminate all opposition. In North Kordofan, the capital, El Obeid, is now completely besieged by the RSF. In South Kordofan, on 12 June, bombs fell on the predominantly Christian Nuba Mountains for the first time since 2016. The US-based charity Persecution Project reports that on ‘Monday [12 June], only moments after a Persecution Project emergency relief and shelter outreach was completed, two Sudanese fighter jets flew over our distribution centre, terrifying the residents and dropping two bombs in the vicinity’. Hundreds of thousands of war-weary Christians in the jihad-ravaged Nuba Mountains – many of them genocide survivors – are again facing the spectre of war and famine.
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| Map of South Kordofan showing (from north to south) El Obeid, Debibad, Delling, Kadugli. MAP source |
Since 15 April, the fighting in Khartoum has driven thousands of South Sudanese and Nuba Christians to flee south. Most of those headed for South Kordofan or South Sudan will travel through North Kordofan and its capital El Obeid/Al-Ubayyid. As with Darfur, fighting erupted in El Obeid in April. On 27 April, during a violent clash between RSF and SAF forces, two rockets struck El Obeid’s Catholic Cathedral. One rocket hit the priest’s residence, and the other blasted into the Cathedral’s front gate, blowing out the Cathedral’s windows. Priests, who were praying inside the church at the time, thanked God that no-one was injured; they are determined to remain in the city for the people. Radio Dabanga reports (13 June): ‘El Obeid is now besieged from all sides by the RSF.’ While water and electricity have been restored, the situation is catastrophic, especially for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) transiting south. On 14 June the SAF carried out ‘air strikes for the first time in El Obeid’.
NUBA MOUNTAINS: Radio Dabanga reports (14 June) that between 2 May and 5 June, 179,333 IDPs arrived in ‘Dalami, Heiban, Tubou (sic) [could this be Talodi/Talawdi?] and the eastern parts of the Nuba Mountains’. This influx of traumatised and wounded, mostly women and children – into a region long marginalised, dependant on humanitarian aid, and with only one medical clinic – is exacerbating an already catastrophic humanitarian situation.
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| Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (image: Nuba Reports) [see RLPB 567 (16 Sept 2020)] |
According to Reuters (8 June), skirmishes between the RSF and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (Hilu faction; which represents the interests of the predominantly Christian Nuba tribes) ‘have been on-going for months’. On Thursday 8 June Abdel Aziz al-Hilu mobilised his forces [SPLM/A-North (Hilu faction)] in South Kordofan. On 9 June Hilu’s forces managed to take over several SAF compounds around South Kordofan’s capital, Kadugli, after SAF troops were redeployed away from there to fight the RSF in El Obeid. The SAF has responded by reinforcing its positions throughout South Kordofan. On Saturday 10 June Military Intelligence officers in Delling/Dilling – a key city in South Kordofan’s north-west, 133 km due north of Kadugli – stopped buses carrying IDPs to Kadugli, claiming insecurity. On 12 June the SAF launched its first airstrikes on the Nuba Mountains since 2016. On 20 June Radio Dabanga reported that the RSF had ‘raided’ and ‘plundered’ Debibad, a town in South Kordofan north of Delling, while fighting between the SAF and the SPLM-N (Hilu faction) south of Kadugli ‘continued over the weekend’.
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR MERCIFUL GOD WILL:
* intervene in Sudan to end the fighting. A negotiated settlement seems unlikely as the parties are simply too far apart. However: ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible’ (Matthew 19:26) and God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9). Lord have mercy!
* protect and provide for Sudan’s long-persecuted Christians. We pray especially for the predominantly Christian, war-ravaged Nuba Mountains – may the Lord rise up and fight for his people against all those who would do them harm.
‘Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me! … Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away! Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!’ (Psalm 35:1a, 5-6 ESV)
* deploy his angelic forces to protect and defend all those delivering humanitarian aid to those whose lives depend on it. May Sudan’s Christians – especially those who are displaced or trapped in conflict zones – seek the Lord for everything they need; may they experience his provision and deliverance. Lord have mercy!
‘May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary … May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.’ (From Psalm 20)
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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SUDAN: NUBA MOUNTAINS BOMBED
On 15 April conflict erupted in Khartoum between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and its former partner, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fighting quickly spread to Darfur, where genocide is currently underway (with Arab militias killing black Africans), and North Kordofan, where the capital, El Obeid is now besieged – its Cathedral hit by rockets. In recent weeks the conflict also spread to South Kordofan, where the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-North (Hilu faction: which represents the interests of the predominantly Christian Nuba tribes) is fighting both RSF and SAF forces. On 12 June bombs fell on the Nuba Mountains for the first time since 2016. Hundreds of thousands of war-weary Christians in the jihad-ravaged Nuba Mountains – many of them genocide survivors – are again facing the spectre of war, famine and death. Please pray.
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Elizabeth Kendal is an international religious liberty analyst and advocate for the persecuted Church. The Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin (RLPB) is a donor funded ministry. To support this ministry visit www.ElizabethKendal.com
Elizabeth has authored two books: Turn Back the Battle: Isaiah Speaks to Christians Today (Deror Books, Melbourne, Australia, Dec 2012) which offers a Biblical response to persecution and existential threat; and After Saturday Comes Sunday: Understanding the Christian Crisis in the Middle East (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, OR, USA, June 2016). She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at Melbourne School of Theology.
For more information see www.ElizabethKendal.com