From Elizabeth Kendal of Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin: (January 22, 2013)
In
1992, during its war against South Sudan, Khartoum declared a jihad
against the 'rebellious' Nuba: the African tribes of the north's Nuba
Mountains who along with the southerners were resisting Islamisation and
racist Arab supremacy. A government-sponsored fatwa legitimised the
jihad by labelling Muslim 'rebels' as 'apostates' and Christians as
'kaffirs [infidels / unbelievers] standing as a bulwark against the
spread of Islam', and affirming that 'Islam has granted the freedom of
killing both categories'. Nothing has changed -- same genocidal regime,
same racial and religious hatred, same jihad, same aim: genocide.
Reporting
on the situation across Sudan's 'new south' -- Abyei, South Kordofan
and Blue Nile -- Dr Mukesh Kapila, the former UN Humanitarian
Co-ordinator in Sudan (2003-04) laments: 'The ethnic cleansing is
largely complete. . . . Rebel areas are depopulated and largely empty.'
He says that in Blue Nile, some 450,000 people have been affected with
fields and villages being razed as Sudanese radio calls for the region
to be 'combed' and cleansed of Africans who are de-humanised as 'black plastic bags'. He reports that in South Kordofan -- where soldiers have been ordered to 'sweep out the trash' (i.e. the Africans) and 'eat them alive'
-- displaced families have retreated to remote cave networks where food
is scarce. Whilst many are determined to remain, saying 'This is our
country', others are simply too weak to attempt the long trek south. It
is a journey that is itself incredibly dangerous, for Khartoum wants the
Nuba not just gone, but dead -- unable to return. A delegation from HART (Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust) recently confirmed that on 12 December 2012 1700 civilians from Ulu Payam (Kirmuk County) left for South Sudan,
only to be attacked en route by SAF (Sudan Armed Forces) ground troops.
Many were killed and many children scattered, with only 700 of the
original 1700 arriving in Maban, South Sudan.
Dr Kapila adds: 'What I've seen in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile is all that I've seen in Darfur, plus the addition of modern technology.
Ten years after, we have precision guided missiles, land mines which I
don't remember seeing in Darfur, anti-personnel bombs, cluster bombs
which I did not see in Darfur, we see MiG fighters which I don't
remember seeing in Darfur, and we have a much more precision-guided
approach with distance over the horizon artillery. So this is not just
another Darfur; quite possibly, it is worse than Darfur.'
Human
Rights Watch estimates that a total of 900,000 African (non-Arab)
Sudanese are now affected. Having razed the farms and villages, the
regime maintains a blockade on humanitarian aid, using starvation as a
weapon of mass destruction. This has long been the regime's preferred
method of mass killing: engineering a famine and just waiting as the
population turns skeletal and quietly drops into the dust. Khartoum has a
long history of this type of warfare -- indeed President Omar el-Bashir
has perfected mass murder and his conscience is untroubled. Despite
this, the US administration has assured Khartoum that it is not seeking regime change but rather normalising relations. This is because the US believes friendship with Khartoum is in its geo-strategic interests
on the spurious grounds that it thinks Khartoum could be helpful in the
fight against terrorism. In truth, the West's interests would be better
served if it feared the LORD!
Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the
Anglican Cathedral in Kadugli only survived the ethnic-cleansing of
Kadugli (the capital of South Kordofan) because he was receiving medical
treatment in the US when Kadugli was invaded and ethnically cleansed in
June 2011. This week Bishop Andudu and Dr Kapila will attend the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa to lobby for action to end the suffering in Sudan's 'new south'. They have identified Friday 25 January 2013 'Heads of State meeting on Sudan' as a key test of the AU's 'credibility'.
Bishop Andudu is praying the AU will soon take action and send
humanitarian aid, implement a ceasefire and send a delegation to the
conflict areas. 'That [would] be very helpful,' he said.
HISTORICAL NOTE: In 1913 the newly formed Sudan United Mission (SUM) Australia-New Zealand began sending pioneer missionaries into the Nuba Mountains.
The first 'Sudanese Church of Christ in the Nuba Mountains' was planted
in 1914. By 1936 there were 33 Australian and New Zealand SUM
missionaries working in the Nuba Mountains alongside others
who had arrived from various missions (in particular Church Missionary
Society) and from the USA. After Sudan became independent in 1956 under a
repressive Muslim, Arabist government, the missionaries, sensing their
time was limited, redoubled their efforts in Bible translation. By the
time the missionaries were forced to leave in 1962, Australian SUM (now
Pioneers) missionaries had translated the New Testament into five Nuba
languages. Today the Nuba are predominantly Christian. Germany, the USA, New Zealand and particularly Australia, all have strong spiritual ties (does that imply responsibilities?)
to the people of the Nuba Mountains. May this centenary year be the
year the battle is turned back. Remember - our struggle is not primarily
against flesh and blood. (Ephesians 6:12)
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY THAT THE LORD OF HOSTS WILL --
* intervene in Sudan, so that 'the wicked will be caught in the schemes that they have devised' (Psalm 10:2b ESV).
* 'Break the arm [the machinery of action] of the wicked and evildoer; call his wickedness to account till you find none' (v15);
may the machinery of evil -- the government in Khartoum, the Sudan
Armed Forces, the military hardware -- be disrupted so that forces of
liberty, justice and equality might be able to rise against it.
* show Omar el-Bashir and all who wield power in Khartoum (vv3-13) that YAHWEH reigns and is King forever (v16).
*
see the suffering of the victims (Ps 10:14), hear their cry (v17a),
strengthen their hearts (v17b) and provide them with justice (v18a) 'so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more' (v18b).
SUMMARY FOR BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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RACIAL-RELIGIOUS GENOCIDE IN SUDAN'S 'NEW SOUTH'
According
to Dr Mukesh Kapila, the former UN Humanitarian Co-ordinator in Sudan
(2003-04), the ethnic cleansing of Sudan's 'new south' -- Abyei, South
Kordofan and Blue Nile -- 'is largely complete'. He comments that due to
advances in technology, this war is 'worse than Darfur'. Displaced
Africans (non-Arabs) unable to reach the massively over-populated
refugee camps in South Sudan have retreated to remote caves. Having
destroyed their food supply, the Arab-Islamist regime is blockading all
humanitarian aid and using starvation as a weapon of mass destruction.
These Africans are predominantly Christian. Christianity in the Nuba
Mountains dates back nearly a century to when pioneer missionaries from
Sudan United Mission Australia-New Zealand planted the first church
there in 1914. Please pray for the Lord to intervene in Sudan.