Today is Tuesday, November 14th of 2005. November is know to be a month to remember the "Persecuted Church". I've been meaning to write about this nation, which I (Sal) feel it's time now!
I met a Sudanese for the first time last year when I was helping a friend move to Minnesota State University-Fergus Falls (1 hour north of Morris). I automatically thought about the stories I hear from this country. When I met this particular student, she appeared very happy as she smiled when I introduced myself. She was a very tall lady!
"The ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan, was given a personal face on Thursday when two Darfurian refugees spoke at UMM.
Daoud Hari and Ibrahim Mousa Adam related their experiences living in Darfur, and urged students to use their voices to help those still trapped in Sudan.
Despite starting more than two hours late due to weather delays at the Denver airport, about 200 students attended the sobering event.
�Never have people waited until 10,� Adam said, thanking the audience for staying. �Your patience and concern are blessings for the people of Darfur.�
Both Hari and Adam explained the need for action, not just words, from international agencies.
"We need to pressure the international community into taking real action," Adam said.
"The people of Darfur most want security and protection,� he added.
Both also encouraged students to voice support for US legislation that, if passed, would give states the right to divest, or withdraw, funds from countries that operate in Sudan or support the Sudanese government.
Hari comes from Musbat, a small village in the northern part of Darfur. Hari worked as a translator for many major news agencies before being arrested on charges of espionage. His release from a Sudanese prison was negotiated by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and Hari was granted refugee status soon after.
Adam's village in Darfur was destroyed in July 2003, killing 20 members of his family and spreading the survivors across refugee camps in Africa. After coming to the U.S., Adam worked at a factory to support his family, and only recently turned to speaking about his experiences as a way to educate more people about the impacts of the conflict.
Laura Thoma, Vice President of the International Relations Club at UMM, said she received information about the speaking tour in the mail, and after checking to be sure it was legitimate, approached the UMM Student DFL and International Programs Committee to help co-sponsor the event.
Thoma hoped audience members would get more information and be able to be better educated about the decisions they make and ways we treat each other.
"We need a global perspective, which we sometimes forget about because we're so worried about our p-chem homework or the next test," she added.
Hari and Adam came to UMM as part of the Voices for Darfur campaign, a national speaking tour sponsored by the Save Darfur Coalition.
Voices for Darfur presents personal stories of the people who have managed to escape the genocide in Sudan.
Ethnic violence in Sudan has slowly escalated since 2003 when ethnic Africans rebelled against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, accusing leaders of discrimination.
In response, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir provided arms and training to tribal and local militias, now known as the Janjaweed. Since 2003, Janjaweed fighters have become more and more brutal, wiping out entire villages and terrorizing thousands of Darfurians.
News reports put the death toll for the conflict between 200,000 and 400,000, with another 2.5 million people displaced from their homes.
In a September 2007 report, advocacy agency Human Rights Watch said, "The situation in Darfur has evolved in the last year from a relatively straightforward conflict between rebels and the government into a violent scramble for power and resources involving government forces, Janjaweed militia, rebels and former rebels, and bandits, with civilians, peacekeepers, and humanitarian aid workers caught in the crossfire."
When asked what he believed the Sudanese government�s ultimate goal was, Hari responded, �We ask ourselves the same question,� but added the issue is a question of power.
Since British colonialism, Hari explained, the Arab minority has held on to power in the country. In order to keep power, they have turned to violence.
�They are trying to build a new, Arab nation in Darfur,� Adam added.
Adam finally urged to students to continue to help, explaining that a generation of Darfurian children were growing up without education or support. �Don�t give up until they are safe,� he said.
More information about the Voices for Darfur campaign can be found at SaveDarfur.org."
[Picture]
Daoud Hari (left) and Ibrahim Mousa Adam (right) spoke to a sober UMM audience about the ongoing genocide in Darfur as part of the Voices for Darfur speaking tour. Both urged the audience to use their voices to advocate for international intervention in Sudan. UMM student Laura Thoma (center), Vice President of the International Relations Club, was primarily responsible for organizing the speakers� visit.
"STILLWATER, Minn. -- Sara Damon's job is to bring the world closer to students in her 9th grade AP Human Geography classes at Stillwater Junior High.
That means maps give way to a human narrative through books, movies and people who bring the story directly to students.
That's why Damon jumped on an opportunity to invite members of the so-called "Lost Boys of Sudan" to speak at her classroom. These boys, now men, survived war, separation from their families, and sometimes years in the wilderness as they fled their villages in advance of attacks from government troops and militia.
John Dau was this year's guest speaker, telling students his story of survival, and eventual reunification with family members.
Now settled in the United States, Dau told students not only about his journey in Africa, but also his struggle to become educated, and his excitement over the birth of The Republic of South Sudan, which is where Dau's ancestral home lies.
Damon's students are used to learning about migration and refugees, but with the Lost Boys' visits, students are also learning about the human will to survive.
"I don't see how they could walk for years and years, always thirsty, always hungry," said 9th grader Brady Nahkala.
"It's so amazing what these people have to go through, and it's astonishing... their struggle for survival," said Story Schwantes, who also participated in the school's Walk for Water.
Damon has partnered with the Minnesota based non-profit H2O for Life to raise money to build wells in Sudan. "We've fully funded three, and now we're in the process of trying to fully fund two additional wells," explained Damon.
Students simulate the walk many Sudanese children make every day to find water by carrying jugs of water for fifteen laps at the school. Additional funds are raised through a community talk given by Lost Boys guests every years.
All of which makes the tragedy of genocide in the Sudan a very real experience for students like Schwantes, "It just broadens my view of everything."
(Copyright 2011 by KARE. All Rights Reserved.) "
"Sudan (MNN) ― While U.S. President George W. Bush pressed Chinese President Hu Jintao to use his influence in the region to end the Darfur crisis, relative peace has come to Southern Sudan--an area where years of civil war decimated the region, leaving many without hope.
This new peace is allowing for an historic event to take place this weekend.
American Evangelist Sammy Tippit says, "The people of Southern Sudan have been just devastated by the Islamic government of the north. So freedom has come, to some extent. And for the first time in many, many years, they're going to be able to hold a very large outdoor evangelistic meeting."
We met up with Tippit in the airport on his way to the event where he'll be the key note speaker. He was invited by believers he worked with when he held evangelistic meetings in the north. "They were displaced at that time -- away from their home -- and now they've come back. And that's how I got invited. And so they're prepared because they know exactly what needs to be done to do the follow up."
Tippit believes the people are Southern Sudan are uniquely ready for the Gospel."When I go into an area that's been torn apart, the people are ready; they're open; they're hungry for the good news of the Gospel. So it'll be interesting to see."
The meetings that will be held through the weekend are being supported by all of the churches in the region.
Tippit is asking you to pray. "Pray that many, many people will come to a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. We believe this is the greatest need in the country. As hearts are transformed, it will transform the people. It will transform the nation." "
"Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956. Sudan was embroiled in two prolonged civil wars during most of the remainder of the 20th century. These conflicts were rooted in northern economic, political, and social domination of largely non-Muslim, non-Arab southern Sudanese. The first civil war ended in 1972 but broke out again in 1983. The second war and famine-related effects resulted in more than 4 million people displaced and, according to rebel estimates, more than 2 million deaths over a period of two decades. Peace talks gained momentum in 2002-04 with the signing of several accords. The final North/South Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in January 2005, granted the southern rebels autonomy for six years."
"Sudan (MNN) ― At the beginning of December, leaders from Sudan's North and South agreed on terms of Southern Sudan's 2011 independence referendum. Taking advantage of the troubled nation's temporary peace, Partners International plans to double their giving to ministry partners in Sudan.
For now, experts say Sudan rests in the "calm before a storm." Earlier this month, leaders of Sudan's Muslim-dominated North met with the mainly Christian South's officials to discuss an impending independence referendum. Leaders are said to have reached agreement concerning the upcoming vote.
Some specialists, as well as Carlos Calderon with Partners International, say all signs point to an opt for independence by Southern Suda and the possibility of another war.
"But in the meantime," Calderon says, "we're building with the Africa Inland Church-Sudan to reach out to this whole generation of child soldiers."
The leader of AIC-Sudan barely escaped forced recruitment as a boy and watched the slaughter of his friends by government officials.
"...the government [soldiers] was just shooting them, as if they were just mangos," relayed Calderon.
Passionate about protecting Southern Sudan's vulnerable youth, he says 2010 is the time to build schools. By receiving a solid education, young boys will be less susceptible to all forms of exploitation. In the next 12 months, Partners hopes to double its contributions to AIC-Sudan for school construction in Southern Sudan.
An associate of Partners International, Africa Inland Church-Sudan helps people re-establish their lives. Partners helps AIC-Sudan provide these resources for the estimated 2.7 million refugees of Sudan's violent conflict. They're one of the few aid groups to do so.
"It's only Christians who are reaching out to them, providing children's education, training for church planters, healthcare for displaced people," Calderon explains. "Partners International is privileged to be one of the very, very few organizations sending [refugees] ongoing, live supply provisions, plus the Gospel of Jesus Christ."
According to BBC News, many aid agencies are "unable to gain access" to Darfur and other war-affected regions because of Sudan's insecure condition.
In sharing stories of militia raids on refugee camps, Calderon says soldiers add insult to injury. Along with killing men, raping women and stealing refugee children, soldiers shoot holes in the refugees' buckets.
"It's sad, it's inhumane, it's so cruel to those who survive," Calderon says in describing camp raids."[Soldiers] leave [survivors] without the means to even purify their water.
"So when you come up with a busload of buckets, to them it's life."
Partners gives plastic buckets to raid victims, along with supplies and medicines. A shipment of medications traveled to Sudan a few weeks ago; Calderon says $25,000-worth of Western medicines in the crate netted an equivalent of $1.5 million in Sudanese medications.
"We take $25,000 and send them a quarter of a million dollars; that is an amazing thing."
You can help Partners make a difference where few groups can. Click here and designate "Horn of Africa" to help Partners double their contributions to Sudan. You can give specific gifts such as buckets and food for a refugee family by clicking here.
"CENTRAL CITY, PENNSYLVANIA (ANS) -- Three weeks after the release of “Machine Gun Preacher,” a film about the life of Sam Childers, a former drug dealer who found Christ and started an orphanage in Sudan to rescue children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the White House announced they would send troops to central Africa to hunt down the LRA’s founder.
Sam Childers
Since the LRA has been raping and plundering villagers for more than two decades, and the U.S. has a policy of avoiding military intervention in sub-Saharan Africa, the decision as well as its timing shortly after the film’s release seemed remarkable to some – even to the man at the center of the film.
“From what I hear, there was a connection,” says Sam Childers, founder of Angels of East Africa. “Several weeks back, the people in L.A. sent a private screening in to Obama’s office,” he notes. “There were a lot of things on the table they were thinking about doing, but it (the film) helped to push everything off the table and get the ball rolling.”
“I’m sure his office got a private screening two to three weeks before he made the decision,” he confirms.
Childers has three projects operating in Uganda, three in Ethiopia, along with the orphanage in Sudan. During the last 10 years, Childers and his organization have rescued over 1000 children caught in the Sudanese conflict. Many of the children he rescues and houses at his orphanages were part of the LRA.
The LRA’s founder is a self-described prophet named Joseph Kony, who combines mysticism with cultish Christian rhetoric in leading his group. Kony is on the U.S. terrorist list and wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. His militia has kidnapped more than 20,000 children since 1988 and forced them to become soldiers in his army. The group also rapes women, keeps sex slaves, and mutilates many of their victims.
The goal of the U.S. mission, according to a letter sent to Congress on October 14th, is to assist regional African forces in removing Kony from the battlefield. The first U.S. troops arrived October 12th, and they will be joined by other troops – mostly Army Green Berets -- in the next few weeks.
MORE"
"WASHINGTON (ANS) -- Hollywood actor George Clooney put his body on the line for Sudan when he was arrested outside the Sudanese embassy in Washington March 16th.
Clooney with his father, journalist Nick Clooney, outside Sudanese embassy
In recent statements he also credited the efforts of Christian aid groups to
provide humanitarian aid and relief to those suffering what he described as “war crimes.”
On March 14, Clooney testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stating the Sudanese government was killing its people and blocking aid to the Nuba mountains and other areas. He described in vivid detail his visit this month to southern Sudan, where he saw hundreds of victims who sought shelter in caves from Sudanese bombings.
Clooney told CBN News prior to his arrest that Christian ministries play a significant role in providing humanitarian aid.
"They lead the work a lot of times here," he said. "When we were at the Darfur rally it was ministers. It was a lot of people of faith that had been working very hard on this."
"So in some ways I'm trying to honor whatever part I can in the hard work that they do because I'm a big fan of all of the work that's being done," he added. "And people really put their hearts and souls in it."
Surprisingly, Clooney also mentioned his unlikely alliance with Pat Robertson in his efforts against the Sudanese government.
MORE..
"..(CNN) -- Manute Bol, one of the tallest players in NBA history, died Saturday at the age of 47, a spokeswoman with the University of Virginia Medical Center confirmed to CNN.
The hospital did not disclose the cause of death.
Bol, who was listed at 7-feet-7 inches tall and 225 pounds, played for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat in his 10-year career.
The native of war-torn Sudan was known during and after his career for his charity work for his home country.
"He was a wonderful person. He would always talk about the civil war going on in Sudan, because he was sending all of his money back to Sudan," Charles Barkley, Bol's teammate on the 76ers and an NBA analyst for TNT, told CNN's Don Lemon. "I can honestly say I never played with a better person," Barkley said.
"He never forgot about the Sudan. He would talk to us about it all the time. ... The world is not a better place today; It's worse because we don't have Manute Bol," he added.
In 2004 after he was nearly killed in an auto accident, Bol told Sports Illustrated, "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart, so I would look back."
Bol donated his NBA earnings to charity, according to the article.
Bol, so tall and so lanky, was somewhat the oddity when he came to national attention as a player for the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1984. He was a dominant shot blocker and rebounder at the Division II school, where often the tallest player on the other team would be a foot shorter than him. He played one year at Bridgeport then went pro.
Known as the Dinka Dunker for the Sudanese tribe he was from, Bol was drafted in 1985 by the Bullets and twice led the NBA in blocked shots.
Fans also loved when he would stand behind the 3-point line and push up a long-distance jumper.
He had more blocked shots than points scored in his career, the only NBA player to ever accomplish the feat.
He also drew attention after his career ended when he fought a former NFL player, William Perry, in made-for-TV boxing match. Bol won the fight over the man known as the "The Refrigerator" with a third-round decision.
Many did not know about Bol's propensity to joke on his teammates, especially Barkley.
"There's never been a guy who played more practical jokes or who made more people laugh more than Manute Bol," Barkley said. "He was hilarious."
Bol is survived by four children, two sons and two daughters, he had with his ex-wife, Atong.
Former NBA player Gheorghe Muresan, who starred with Billy Crystal in the 1998 movie "My Giant," was also listed at 7-feet-7.
"BEIJING, CHINA / PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA (ANS) -- According to one media estimate a television audience of 4 billion people around the world watched the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics this weekend.
Among the 115,000 people in the now-famous Bird's Nest Olympic stadium were 91,000 spectators, including dignatories and foreign heads of state from 81 nations, 15,000 opening ceremony performers, and 10,000 athletes from more than 200 countries.
Olympic athlete Lopez Lomong
Proudly carrying the flag of the United States was Lopez Lomong, from Darfur, southern Sudan, who will run the 1,500 meters on Aug.15.
But there is a deeper aspect to the story of Lopez Lomong, Sudanese Lost Boy and flag-bearer for the US Olympic team.
Because when he stands up for the people of Darfur he is standing up for his former enemies, says a Darfurian medical doctor.
Dr. Abdelgabar Adam, a resident of Philadelphia, and founder and President of the Darfur Human Rights Organization, says Darfurians were used by the Government of Sudan against Southern Sudanese.
But the forgiving attitude of Southerners like Lopez Lomong is blurring the lines of division between Sudanese Muslims in the North, and the largely non-Muslim population in Southern Sudan.
"The Government of Sudan tried to convince the people of Darfur that the non-Muslims in the South were our enemies, and used us to oppress the Southerners" Dr. Adam says.
"But now that we Darfurians are the victims, Lopez and other Southern Sudanese are doing what they can to stand up for our people, despite the fact that their family members were killed by soldiers from Darfur."
Dr. Abdelgabar Adam
According to Dr. Adam, by standing up for Darfur, Lopez is forever changing the mindset of Darfurians, and other Sudanese Northerners, revealing that Southern Sudanese and Darfurians should not be enemies, but brothers.
"Lopez's example is giving hope to Sudan," Dr. Adam says.
The 22-year war between the extremist Islamist regime in Khartoum, and the largely Christian and animist Southern Sudan was ended in January 2005 with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord.
The Government of Southern Sudan is semi-autonomous, and in 2011 a referendum will give the Southern Sudanese the opportunity to choose to remain as a region of a united Sudan, or secede.
In 2003-2004 conflict broke out in Darfur, as Khartoum�s violent response to demands from Darfurian rebels who demanded roads, schools and clinics for the impoverished region of Darfur. The North -- South war had a religious aspect to it, however the killing in Darfur is not religious but racial in its character.
Border clashes between North and South Sudan, particularly in the oil-rich and contested Abyei region, have led some experts to predict a renewed North � South war, that would be far bloodier than the current crisis in Darfur ("A Genocide Foretold," by Nicholas D. Kristof, NY Times, February 28, 2008).
Dr. Abdelgabar Adam has been one of the leading Darfurian activists, in the U.S., seeking to deepen reconciliation between Darfurians and Southern Sudanese, and among all of the marginalized people of Sudan.
In July 2007 he was the spokesperson at a meeting of Lost Boys, Darfurians and Sudanese Northerners who met to deepen reconciliation among marginalized Sudanese
Dr. Adam is working to organize Lost Boys and young Darfurians to work together to build a school in former slave Francis Bok�s home town of Gourion, Sudan.
The school, a joint project between Sudan Sunrise and the Darfur Human Rights Organization will be a sign of reconciliation: "Darfurians will help build the school for Southerners, and Southerners will welcome Darfurian Muslims into the community and school, not as enemies by as their brothers," says Dr. Adam.
"As a Muslim and a Darfurian, it grieves me that Darfurians were sent to Southern Sudan to fight in the name of Islam. I know much of Lopez Lomong�s suffering as a Lost Boy was caused by soldiers from Darfur. That he would stand up for Darfurians, is an example to all of Sudan that Darfurians and Southern Sudanese are brothers, and we should not ever again be used as enemies of one another," says Dr. Adam.
Sudan Sunrise, a largely Christian organization of Southern Sudanese, and the Darfur Human Rights organization led by Dr. Adam, are working together in Sudanese reconciliation, and are working to call attention to this key aspect of the story of Lopez Lomong, which can be easily overlooked by those unfamiliar with Sudan.
Dr. Adam is available for interviews.
For more information, contact: Dr. Abdelgabar Adam 267-784-7073, darfurhumanrightsorg@verizon.net or Tom Prichard, Sudan Sunrise, 913-481-1459, tomprichard@sudansunrise.org
"Sudan (MNN) ― The Hague issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudan's President, Omar al-Beshir, over the trouble in Darfur. He becomes the first sitting head of state to be charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The International Criminal Court wants answers from Mr. Bashir for a range of crimes, including the attempt to destroy ethnic groups deemed to be supporting rebel factions.
In addition, there are worries that the warrant could worsen Sudan's deadly conflicts and raises issues of double standards.
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says Khartoum's response is not encouraging. "It's not promising that their initial step was to kick out aid workers who are helping to meet the needs of the Sudanese people. That really shows that their interest is not in having the Sudanese people better taken care of; their interest really is in making a point to the international community: 'We didn't like this. We're going to strike back at you.'"
The death toll from the trouble in Darfur is at nearly 300,000 since rebels began fighting with the government in 2003. The United Nations estimates the internal displacement at nearly 2.5 million Darfuris.
Although Darfur's issues were separate from those that engulfed the rest of the country in civil war, the warrant issue seems to have and an unexpected unifying effect.
A referendum is slated for 2011 to determine whether or not the South, which is mainly Christian, should remain a part of Sudan.
However, now there is animosity aimed at all things deemed "Western," which includes Christianity. Nettleton says that animosity raises the stakes for their ministry partners. "Times of uncertainty and of unsettledness can be great times of revival as people think about eternity. They think about things beyond their government, and so that can be a time of spiritual awakening. We need to pray that that will happen also." Keep praying for the ministry teams as they work to share the hope of Christ during a tense time in Sudan. "
"The 20th century saw the growth of Sudanese nationalism, and in 1953 Egypt and Britain granted Sudan self-government. Independence was proclaimed on Jan. 1, 1956. Since independence, Sudan has been ruled by a series of unstable parliamentary governments and military regimes. Under Maj. Gen. Gaafar Mohamed Nimeiri, Sudan instituted fundamentalist Islamic law in 1983. This exacerbated the rift between the Arab north, the seat of the government, and the black African animists and Christians in the south."
"Christian kingdoms
By the sixth century, three states had emerged as the political and cultural heirs of the Meroitic kingdom. Nobatia in the north, also known as Ballanah, had its capital at Faras, in what is now Egypt; the central kingdom, Muqurra (Makuria), was centered at Dunqulah, about 150 kilometers south of modern Dunqulah; and Alawa (Alodia), in the heartland of old Meroe, which had its capital at Sawba (now a suburb of modern-day Khartoum). In all three kingdoms, warrior aristocracies ruled Meroitic populations from royal courts where functionaries bore Greek titles in emulation of the Byzantine court.
A missionary sent by Byzantine empress Theodora arrived in Nobatia and started preaching the Gospel of Christ about 540. The Nubian kings became Monophysite Christians. However, Makuria was of the Melkite Christian faith, unlike Nobatia and Alodia."
"This is one video of our trip into the unreached peoples of The South Sudan which we took in October of 2008. We are planning another one before the end of March, 2009. I will be uploading videos from the 3 different people groups which we are now working with so keep coming back." Darfur Refugees in Peril ,
March 7, 2009 "The humanitarian situation in Sudan has taken a disastrous turn following the indictment of President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes in Darfur. The government of Sudan has expelled over a dozen international aid organizations, risking the lives of over a million people in Darfur.
By God’s grace, Samaritan’s Purse has been allowed to stay in Darfur, where we have been feeding over 200,000 victims of the fighting. Now, as help runs out, we are stretching our resources and trusting God to meet overwhelming needs in the Name of Jesus Christ. We need your prayers and your support.
I met with President al-Bashir in Khartoum, Sudan, only a few hours before the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest. He listened attentively as I shared the Gospel with him and discussed my concerns about religious freedom and the implementation of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement.
Sooner or later, he will face judgment for what he has done. Right now, though, I’m more concerned about families in Darfur than justice for al-Bashir. Two days before I met the president, I walked through a vast refugee camp on the edge of the Sahara desert in Darfur and met people who survived bloody raids, including young widows and children. It breaks your heart to think what could happen to people like these. They need food, water, medical care, and other emergency assistance.
Please pray for our team in Darfur and the people they are serving. This is a difficult and dangerous place to work, infested with bandits and rebels, scorched by desert weather, and virtually unreached by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They need our help now, and we will do all we can in Jesus’ Name.
May God bless you.
Sincerely,
Franklin Graham
"..The cross
I will never forget one day when we arrived in front of the hotel the entire staff in the lobby and at the front desk rushed out to welcome the cross. They took turns carrying the cross and then one of the hotel workers carried the 12-foot cross into the hotel lobby. Everyone gathered around and several began to sing the Lord's Prayer, “Our Father who art in Heaven'¦' I will never forget that awesome moment. We had prayer with everyone!
Jesus did it. All glory to God.
A pilgrim follower of Jesus,
Arthur Blessitt
Luke 18:1
..
*see GoodnewsEverybody.com Movies: The Passion, Crucification, Easter, Resurrection, etc..
'KHORFULLUS TOWN, SOUTHERN SUDAN (ANS) -- A soldier detonated a hand grenade Thursday at an evening worship service, killing himself and five children and wounding four others.
The reason for the incident is unknown at this time.
According to Pastors Francis Ayul and Saphano Riak Chol, leaders of FEBAC-Sudan, the newly-formed association of evangelical Baptist churches, �Rev. John Monykuer was leading an evening worship when an unidentified man in military attire walked into the service and detonated a grenade. Five children were killed instantly. Four others, including two children, Pastor Monykuer and the wife of Pastor Michael Makuin Kuol, were taken to the hospital in nearby Malakal, a former government garrison town on the White Nile. One of the children died Saturday morning. The other three are still in critical condition.� "
"Phillips says American companies, which are barred from doing business in Sudan because of U.S. sanctions, are eager to see a peace accord signed so they can get back in the country. Sudan's large petroleum reserves are especially enticing.
But Phillips doesn't want the U.S. government or American firms to cozy up to the regime in Khartoum.
"Why, under any circumstances, do we want to make them a partner?" he asked. "My fear is our No. 1 concern is a buck."
"KHARTOUM, SUDAN (ANS) -- After being nailed to a board by his master and left for dead -- the last in a series of torturous acts -- a Sudanese Dinka boy escaped from his bondage and lived to tell his horrific story. (Pictured: Joseph today. Credit: Persecution Project Foundation).
The story of "Joseph," a Christian, is told in a recent newsletter of the Persecution Project Foundation, an organization that monitors Christian persecution in Africa, reports WorldNetDaily.net.
PPF's Brad Phillips recently returned from visiting Joseph, who originally was sold into slavery at age 7 in 1987.
"I had the privilege of spending a day with this amazing boy who is now called Joseph," Phillips wrote. "I spoke with him, I interviewed him, I saw his scars, and I saw his eyes. What I saw moved me, and still haunts me.".. *see
The Devil Came On A Horseback (Djanjaweed Documentary)
" Published on Jul 17, 2012
Documentary from back in 2007 concerning the situation in South Sudan. I do not own any rights or what so ever regarding this video, this is uploaded pure for promotional reasons.
"
Politics
Southern Sudan: on the path to war
By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service Wednesday, October 3, 2007
"The process of formulating the Comprehensive Peace Agreement had been fraught with difficulties as the secular, inclusive, equitable, democratic "New Sudan" vision of Dr John Garang's SPLM and the ruling NCP's vision of an Arab Islamist Sudan with racial and religious apartheid were totally incompatible....
"UNITY STATE, SOUTH SUDAN (ANS) -- An airstrike on a refugee camp in Unity state, South Sudan, on Thursday, November 10, 2011, has been attributed to the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) by South Sudan officials and witnesses, bolstering concerns that war may reignite between Sudan and the new nation of South Sudan.
According to the UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), this follows Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s aggressive comments on November 6, 2011, indicating Khartoum’s readiness to engage in further warfare.
“Taban Deng, governor of Unity state, accused Khartoum of carrying out the attack on the Yida refugee camp,” said a CSW spokesperfon. “Yida is home to about 20,000 refugees from the Nuba Mountains, a region that has faced ongoing aerial and ground assaults from the SAF since June this year. A spokesman for the SAF has denied bombing Yida.
The bombing comes a few days after a rally in Al-Damazin, the state capital of the Blue Nile State, on November 6, 2011, where Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir had warned that his country was running out of patience in the face of alleged “continued provocations” by South Sudan, adding that Khartoum was ready to return to war.
Al-Bashir’s warning came after the northern Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) seized control of Kurmuk town in the border area of Blue Nile State, previously the stronghold of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army-North (SPLA-N), on November 3, 2011.
The CSW spokesperson added, “On November 5, 2011, Khartoum announced it had lodged a second complaint with the UN Security Council accusing South Sudan of supporting opposition fighters in the border-states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile, where Khartoum has been waging war since June and September respectively. The government of South Sudan has repeatedly denied the claim.
“The UNHCR estimates that nearly 29,000 civilians have fled the conflict in Blue Nile to seek refuge in Ethiopia and South Sudan. The refugees insist they were targeted due to their ethnicity, corroborating other eyewitness reports and a leaked UN report of July. In both border regions, the SAF has been making use of counter-insurgency tactics previously employed in South Sudan and in Darfur, including ground and air offensives that target civilians, and the denial of access to international humanitarian aid organisations.”
According to an SAF statement, Khartoum’s offensives in the border-states are being waged in order to “eliminate the remnants of the SPLM”, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement; however the air and ground offensives have thus far targeted as many civilian as military targets.
After conflict erupted in the oil-rich region of Abyei in May, following an invasion by northern forces, an agreement between Sudan and South Sudan in June mandated a UN peacekeeping force to monitor the flashpoint area. Both parties agreed to remove their own troops from the region by 30 September. However the UN force is not fully deployed and the parties have not yet fully withdrawn their troops.
CSW’s Special Ambassador Stuart Windsor said, “The muted international response to recent events in Sudan has allowed the northern regime to distract local attention from its economic and political failures by targeting civilians in Blue Nile and South Kordofan and threatening renewed war with South Sudan. Now refugees from these conflicts are being pursued into South Sudan. The international community must make it clear that military action against South Sudan will be tolerated, and it must remain vigilant, using any remaining leverage to compel Sudan to end the attacks on its own civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, and to allow humanitarian access to both areas.
"The international community must also ensure the removal of all Sudanese troops from Abyei, in accordance with the agreement signed by both parties in Addis Ababa on June 20, 2011.”
For further information or to arrange interviews please contact Kiri Kankhwende, Press Officer at Christian Solidarity Worldwide on +44 (0)20 8329 0045 / +44 (0) 78 2332 9663, email kiri@csw.org.uk or visit www.csw.org.uk. "
"Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Sheik Ahmad Bahr from Hamas, Declared during a Friday Sermon at a Sudan Mosque that America and Israel Will Be Annihilated and Called upon Allah to Kill the Jews and the Americans "to the Very Last One""
Related Sites:
Hamas in their own words
Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Sheik Ahmad Bahr, memritv.org "#1426 - Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council Sheik Ahmad Bahr from Hamas, Declared during a Friday Sermon at a Sudan Mosque that America and Israel Will Be Annihilated and Called upon Allah to Kill the Jews and the Americans "to the Very Last One"
Sudan TV - April 13, 2007 -
This clip is available to paid subscribers of MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). ...
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