‘Another Darfur’ in Sudan; Church workers among those slain

June 15, 2011

Echoing the comments of some Sudanese Christians, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury warned that attacks by the northern Sudanese military on disputed border regions presage a humanitarian disaster reminiscent of Darfur.

Two million lost their lives in the long Sudanese civil war (1983-2005) between the Muslim north and the largely animist and Christian south. South Sudan will become an independent nation on July 9.

“The humanitarian challenge is already great, and the risk of another Darfur situation, with civilian populations at the mercy of government-supported terror, is a real one,” the Anglican primate said.

The bombing of the state of South Kordofan, which borders the incipient nation of South Sudan, has caused 40,000 residents to flee, according to UN estimates. Two Church workers are among those slain.

John Ashworth of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum said that the “deliberate policy by the Khartoum regime [is] to kill its own citizens. It is ethnic cleansing, and it is not new.”

Coadjutor Bishop Michael Didi Adgum Mangoria of El Obeid noted that the UN staff in the region “are simply observers and not peacekeepers. They aren't even able to protect themselves, let alone the civilians.”

 

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Further information:

• Sudanese government accused of bombing campaign (Vatican Radio)
• Stop violence that affects defenseless civilians: Appeal on behalf of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum (Fides)
• Government forces kill two church workers in Sudanese border state (CNS)
• Sudan: Barack Obama calls for ceasefire (BBC)