Co-Editor’s Note
Scurrying to cover Bishop Mark Stevenson with an umbrella as he crossed a drizzly churchyard last Sunday at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, Shirley Smith Graham, a former short-term visiting teacher at Renk Theological College in South Sudan, called to me over her shoulder, “Who would ever have thought that people would be running for their lives out of Khartoum for refuge in Renk?” It was April 30th, and the war between Sudan’s rival generals, Dagalo and al-Burhan, was beginning its third week. Devastation from artillery fire, air strikes, and house invasions has been worst in the capital city of Khartoum in the center of Sudan, and in the western region of Darfur. For history of the Anglican Province of Sudan, see https://www.anglicannews.org/features/2017/07/celebrations-as-sudan-becomes-anglican-communions-39th-province.aspx
Here are seven reports of this horror.
Richard J. Jones
1. From a text message sent April 26th to Dane F. Smith, Jr., Executive Director of AFRECS (American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudans) by Ezekiel Kondo, Archbishop of Khartoum and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan:
Dear Dane, Greetings. As you have been following the development situation in Sudan, the evacuation of Diplomats and other nationals shows the seriousness of the situation. Numbers of deaths on the 12th day today are unknown. There are many bodies on streets nobody can bury them! Despite ceasefire which has been agreed between SAF and RSF still there sounds of gun shoots here and there. Both parties accuse each other of violation of it and nobody can verify.
On the 4th day of the war, the Dean of All Saints Cathedral Khartoum the families, many other teachers from St. Francis School (Catholics) who were stranded in the school and myself over 45 in number evacuated the Cathedral due to escalation of fighting near the Cathedral as you know we are close to the airport and near to one of the centers of RSF. I decided that everyone must leave the Cathedral because armed men broke the main gate and broke window vehicles 6 of them, a cafeteria and a store!
Nobody left and I don’t know what happened to the building there after. Most people from that area left and many now are leaving to other States in the country where it’s little peaceful.
The Khartoum is completely locked down, no shops open, banks and health services. People don’t have cash on them as you are well aware no credit cards used here! It is a humanitarian crises!
Thank you for sharing our story with friends and your government. My greatest worry is that the absence of the international community in the country, it may mean disaster to the Sudanese people.
Thanks.
Ezekiel
2. BBC Radio conducted a four-minute telephone interview April 30th with Canon Ian Woodward of Salisbury Cathedral and Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo, the Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, who was hiding with 15 other people in a house somewhere in Khartoum. Gunfire can be heard in the background, and the Archbishop speaks of limited food, water, and electricity, but also of their faith and the role of the Church. The Archbishop had previously ordered the evacuation of the Episcopal Cathedral in Khartoum when armed men broke in and began ransacking the building.
Bishop Ezekiel Kondo of Khartoum says, “Do not grow tired of praying for Sudan.”
Photo courtesy of Episcopal News Service
Archbishop Kondo ends the interview by responding to a question from the BBC interviewer on whether there is any hope for a peaceful resolution to the conflict: “Nobody knows how and when this situation will come to an end. There is so much fear among the Sudanese people…. I thought about the boat, the disciples and Jesus. The disciples hide out. They thought they were about to die. And Jesus wakes up and commanded the wind to be quiet and be still. And it was. I believe God is able to do things. And this is the whole hope that we have. That [for] this sinking boat the waves and the wind will die out.”
You can listen to the interview which begins at minute 1:16 in the radio broadcast linked here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lhz8
3. Message sent May 3rd to Fr. James Hubbard, St. Paul’s Church, Salem, Virginia from the Executive Manager, Episcopal Development Relief and Rehabilitation, Episcopal Church of Sudan:
Thank you very much for your email and your concern to us your prayers for me and the church of Sudan. Now the situation still worse in different places in Khartoum and we don’t know when the fighting or war will end , but let us continue in one faith to pray to God to stop war and protect his people and provide their needs.
With best wishes,
Rev. Bello Elbuluk Angelo
4. Text message to AFRECS President Phil Darrow from Joseph Garang Atem, Archbishop of the Upper Nile Internal Province of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and former bishop of Renk, Tuesday, May 2:
Updates on the situation in Upper Nile – Renk County:
Greetings from Renk
Despite the fact that many organisations have come to Renk to receive the population who are fleeing the war in Sudan, the affected population are still suffering. Some organisations only do the registration for data tracking while others transport people to Renk.
All the households in Renk are overwhelmed by the people who have entered into the host communities. Renk Diocese started immediately when people arrived at the South Sudan-Sudan border. The Diocese is accommodating over 100 people and facilitated the transportation of over 50 persons to Paloich so far. Renk Hospitals have run out of supplies and people are suffering from the hospitals, admitting person in Renk hospitals is the same as remaining in your own bed in your house.
Renk markets also run out of supplies and the little available are the skyrocketing prices.
Prayers and support are much needed.
With prayers and wishes, Every blessing
++Joseph
5. From a Sudanese Christian living in the United States
Hello Richard/Dane,
Brothers, I thought of updating you on our family in Sudan. There’s
praise, uncertainty, and sad news.
We praise God that someone of my wife’s family made it safely to a refugee
camp in a relatively safe area. Some arrived in South Sudan.
My cousin’s wife died in a car accident with her grandchild while escaping
the war. Multiple family members are injured.
It looks like Ruth’s days. Many escaping the war in Khartoum are dying in
car accidents along the way.
God is good!
Kwathi Akol Ajawin
6. From the Washington Post, April 27, 2023
Adam Hassan Yahya Omer: The road to South Sudan
Omer is a pro-democracy activist and teacher based in Khartoum.
I set up a school in my neighborhood because I want kids to learn about science and how to read and write. But then my neighborhood was hard-hit with explosions and fighting so the school closed down.
A big shell killed my neighbor and two of her children. There was death everywhere.
We wanted to leave so we had to try to get a place on a truck, because many of my relatives are elderly and cannot walk far. One passenger cost 30,000 Sudanese pounds [about $50] and I had nine people — six of my brothers, my mother, my grandfather and my mother’s mother.
When I went to look for my brother, the RSF had occupied his house, so he was missing. It took a day to find him.
The first time we tried to leave, one of my friends was shot and killed, so they had to stop to bury him. The next day, on Friday, we left. I decided to find a safe place for my mother and grandmother and other female relatives in a peaceful village outside Khartoum. Me and my brother are of military age, so we feared being targeted by either side.
We decided to go to South Sudan.
When we left the house, we got into a car with some friends and headed to the mountain road that leads to Kosti [a city to the south].
The RSF chased us. We all got out of the car. There were children with us. They wanted money and phones. Then they accused my brother of being in the army. We gave them our passports and I told them my little brother is not affiliated with the army, he is just exercising a lot.
We had 20,000 Sudanese pounds [around $33], and they took our money and all the money from the others as well, then they left us. There were dead bodies on the road, citizens who resisted and were shot dead.
We went back to our car, but two hours later we ran into them again. Since we had already been robbed, they did not find anything, so they let us go.
There were so many dead bodies on the way.
Finally we arrived at the border town of Renk, in South Sudan.
7. From Samantha Power, Administrator of the U. S. Agency for International Development:
DISASTER ASSISTANCE RESPONSE TEAM
Sunday, April 23, 2023
For more than a week, fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan has claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and yet again dashed the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people. Civilians trapped in their homes cannot access desperately needed medicines, and face the prospect of protracted power, water, and food shortages. Those trying to flee face brutality and theft on the streets. And all of this suffering compounds an already dire situation – one-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence.
The United States is mobilizing to ramp up assistance to the people of Sudan ensnared between the warring factions. That is why today I am announcing that the U.S. Agency for International Development has deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) in the region to coordinate the humanitarian response for those in need both within and outside of Sudan. The DART will be operating out of Kenya for the initial phase of the response. Our DART disaster experts are working with the international community and our international partners to identify priority needs and to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to those who need it most.
The United States has been the largest provider of humanitarian assistance to Sudan for more than a quarter century and our commitment to the Sudanese people is unwavering. This includes our local staff and the staff of our international partners who have dedicated their lives and worked tirelessly alongside the Sudanese people in hopes of building the peaceful, democratic country they deserve.
At a time when many Sudanese families should be celebrating the end of the holy month of Ramadan, they are instead living in terror. The United States demands that the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces abide by the three-day Eid al-Fitr ceasefire to which they have agreed, end this reckless bloodshed, facilitate humanitarian access, comply with international humanitarian law – including enabling safe and unhindered access for humanitarian and medical workers to reach people in need of life-saving assistance – and honor the Sudanese people’s calls for freedom and peace.
A Call to Pray for Sudan
From the director of AFRECS, Dane F. Smith, Jr., April 28, 2023
AFRECS has been following with growing concern the violence unfolding in Sudan. On April 15 the Sudanese Army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces attacked each other with artillery fire and airstrikes. Despite cease-fire efforts, the violence has continued. It is centered on the capital Khartoum and appears to be expanding in Darfur.
Sudanese Christians report that Khartoum is shut down. No shops, banks or restaurants are operating, and residents are unable to buy food. Hundreds of civilians have died, and bodies remain unburied in the streets of the capital. Christians who had gathered at All Saints’ Episcopal Cathedral evacuated after armed men broke down the main gate, invaded the cafeteria and store, and broke windows of vehicles in the compound. Khartoum residents who are able have been fleeing into the countryside in their automobiles. Some have died in auto accidents because of chaos on the roads. There is general fear that the departure of diplomats and other foreign nationals means the situation will become worse for civilian Sudanese.
Refugees have been flowing into Ethiopia, Egypt, and Chad, as well as into South Sudan. The county commissioner of Renk County in South Sudan, Kak Padiet, told Reuters that some 10,000 people had arrived in his county from Sudan last week and were continuing to come across the border on Monday.
The United States Government has been working with the United Nations, including Western allies, African and Middle Eastern governments, to put pressure on the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces to bring about a permanent cease-fire and to move the country effectively toward a transitional civilian government. So far these efforts have not borne fruit.
AFRECS calls for urgent and continuous prayers for the suffering people of Sudan, including a very anxious Christian community. As of today, internet communication is still possible, so words of love and support to family members, friends and colleagues in Sudan are most welcome.
God, bring peace to deeply troubled Sudan, and safety and hope to its peoples.
And let all people say, “Amen”.
We are deeply grateful that contributions from you, our supporters, continue to nurture AFRECS in expanding our impact. You make a difference in the essential peacebuilding work of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, so needed in these challenging times. We hope you will make a contribution to support AFRECS’ work with the people of the Sudans and will offer a prayer for them. You can contribute online at https://afrecs.org or send a check made out to AFRECS to P.O. Box 3327, Alexandria, VA 22302.
This issue of the E-Blast was compiled by Board members Richard Jones, Steven Miles, and James Hubbard.
Please send corrections, queries, photos, or contributions of news to anitasanborn@gmail.com. Previous issues can be searched by date and keywords at www.afrecs.org/news.