by Dane Smith
Sunday morning February 8, 2026, we drove further north for about forty-five minutes, left the road, crossed a wide, sandy wadi, and arrived at a grove of massive mango trees. Bishop Andudu, Assistant Bishop Hassan, and other clergy donned their vestments and joined a wide circle of perhaps a hundred men and women under the trees. After an opening prayer, various choirs of young women appeared, singing in Moro, the language of this part of the Nuba Mountains. After each of two Scripture readings, a choir appeared or reappeared. Eventually the bishops and the foreigners were introduced and asked to speak.
I spoke briefly in Arabic to introduce AFRECS and describe our work for the Episcopal Church of Sudan and of South Sudan. Mentioning my earlier visits to Sudan, I rejoiced in my first visit to the Nuba Mountains. I noted we were considering, with Bishop Andudu’s encouragement, a possible program in trauma healing.
Rev. Jared Wensyel, Executive Director, Sudan Church Partners, preached a sermon in English, translated into Arabic. Over time, the numbers rose steadily, to perhaps three hundred. We were sharing a uniquely African worship experience. It had relatively little in common with services I have attended in the Juba cathedral, which I could recognize as Episcopal rites. The service ended after three hours, and we repaired to another grove of tree for a lunch of chicken, rice, and goat innards, with strong sweet tea.
Why worship in the mango grove? For one thing, it certainly was a lot cooler than worship in one of the several churches we saw along the way, without fans, heated to ninety degrees by the incessant morning sun.
The real reason, however, is security. The Sudan Armed Forces has targeted large gatherings of church people, in the dioceses of Kadugli and the newer diocese of Heiban, with drone attacks. An attack on a 2023 Christmas gathering in Dilling killed several Christians. So, precautions are taken with large gatherings, particularly those involving Christian leaders. The precautions might also relate to disquiet among Muslim leaders over rapid gains in Christian numbers in the Nuba Mountains, with its mixed population of Muslims, Christians, and traditional African religions.
Christian evangelism is expanding rapidly in this area, sealed off thus far from the depredations of the Sudan Armed Forces or any authorities in Khartoum or Port Sudan. This area is under the control of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/North. Their agents, unknown to me, were circulating in our area – a mode of quiet policing to avoid trouble. To the north of this area, in Kadugli and Dilling, where Muslim authorities are still in general control, there is little church expansion.
General Abdelaziz al-Hilu, popularly known as Aziz, is the strongman of the Nuba Mountains. A major figure in the SPLM/North, Aziz has kept the Sudan Armed Forces out of the Nuba Mountains. He has the reputation of being perhaps the most capable commander in the country. He has favored a democratic polity and separation of religion from the state.
It generated some perplexity when he signed an agreement with the Rapid Support Forces of Gen. Mohammed Degalo to create the “Government of Peace & Unity” in early 2025 and assumed the number two position. Bishop Andudu says Aziz concluded early on that, while both sides in Sudan’s civil war were evil, he needed to avoid having both against him, if a settlement were reached between the two. Given the more recent Islamist slant of the SAF, he sided – for the moment – with the RSF. The latter has pledged secular rule in their area. That seems a reasonable interpretation.