Aid to the Church in Need: Sudan: Advancing islamisation and violence threatens peace process

Sudan: Advancing islamisation and violence threatens peace process

Posted by Information Report on 28/4/2009, 9:11 am
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ACN Information report, Tuesday, 28th April 2009 – Sudan

Peace process in crisis in Sudan – Bishop warns against advancing islamisation and increasing violence

Officially, there is peace in Sudan. But in reality people continue to suffer from violence and hunger – in the western province of Darfur, as in the North and in the South of the country. Undoubtedly, the exploitation of the oilfields in the South has sparked an economic boom, but the revenue from this is not going to those who most urgently need the help. In a country marked by corruption it is only the rich and powerful who profit from the unjust distribution of resources and from the unresolved conflicts. The warrant issued at the beginning of March by the International Court in the Hague against Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir was at best a legal slap in the face. It will certainly do nothing to help the ordinary Sudanese people.

Bishop Daniel Adwok, the auxiliary bishop in Khartoum, puts it plainly: “The president will quite simply ignore the arrest warrant. What is far worse, however, is the fact that the peace accord of 2005 has not been fulfilled. It was a mistake to entrust this task to the former warring parties alone. We need outside help”. The agreement, brokered by international mediators, brought an end to the civil war between the Sudanese regime and the largest of the rebel movements in the South, the SPLM/A. Prior to this the civil war, which lasted over two decades, caused the death of around 2 million Sudanese and left some 4 million internal or external refugees.

According to the peace treaty, the armed units of both sides should have been withdrawn and the ruined infrastructure rebuilt – for example the schools and hospitals – while the internal refugees and those who had fled to neighbouring countries were to have been helped to return to their homes. There were to be free elections in which they would choose a new political leadership, and a referendum in 2011, in which the people of the South could decide on possible independence from the North. But so far, all this has at best been only sporadically implemented and in many cases not at all. To this day there can be no talk of a normalisation of the political situation, as a precondition of free elections and for a plebiscite on autonomy for the South.

It is true that in April 2009 President Omar al-Bashir announced presidential and parliamentary elections for February 2010, yet it is more than likely that he is simply playing for time through this announcement. Omar al-Bashir appears less likely than at any time since he seized control in a putsch 20 years ago to relinquish his hold on power. His political opponent, Salva Kiir, the current vice president of Sudan and leader of the SPLM/A, is also striving for power. Certainly, the battle against the increasing corruption is not one that Kiir is expected to undertake – with devastating consequences for the ordinary people of Sudan.

“Even in the south, the corruption is huge”, Bishop Daniel Adwok confirms. The truth, he adds, is that the ordinary people do not have any political leadership that represent their interests. Even the Christian politicians are economically dependent on the central authority in Khartoum, he explains. And yet no genuine social development is possible without religious freedom, he says. Instead, however, islamisation is being steadily advanced, since the only available forms of social progress are embedded in the Islamic and Arabic traditions. Any outsiders to this are excluded, Bishop Daniel Adwok explains. “In Sudan Christians are clearly discriminated against. They cannot defend themselves, since they are deprived de facto of any political and economic power”. They have absolutely no role at all in the security forces either.

Bishop Daniel Adwok, the auxiliary bishop in Khartoum (Photo: ACN)

Living conditions for the refugees have not essentially changed since the signing of the peace treaty. According to staff of the international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), who visit the country regularly, their situation continues to be catastrophic – living in extremely cramped conditions without adequate medical provision and without any future prospects. They are overwhelmingly Christians but also include many animists, members of pagan African religions who likewise receive no support of any kind from the Sudanese state, whereas the Church strives to help them with all the means at her disposal. Similarly, the aid promised under the peace accords by the state for the rebuilding of the infrastructure in the South of the country has likewise not materialised. There is a lack of water and electricity, of schools and health centres.

The vicariate for refugees which the archdiocese of Khartoum set up in 1991, does its best to look after the people. Over 300 kindergartens, primary and secondary schools have been established by the Church. Some 1,500 teachers and other school assistants care for and instruct the children and young people. Over the past 12 years this programme has benefited an estimated million or more school children.

ACN has been supporting the Church in the establishment and running of these schools for years. Further projects are in preparation, in collaboration with the archdiocese. The level of financial support is clearly dependent on the available resources of the charity, which also helps for the training of seminarians and young priests. Currently there are 64 priests working in the archdiocese. They minister to 30 parishes in and around Khartoum and throughout the North of the country, and they are supported in their work by several hundred trained catechists.

The archdiocese of Khartoum is very poor and bears the scars of the civil war, the poverty of the refugees and the repression and vindictiveness of the regime. On top of this, the Christians have to endure repeated violent attacks by Islamic extremists. And yet, despite all this, the Catholic Church has witnessed considerable growth. As Bishop Adwok remarks, “War always brings misery in its wake; only peace can make development possible. We are not giving up hope that the interests of the 10 million Christians will finally be respected. The peace treaty must finally be implemented, but this is only possible with the help of the states that were involved in bringing it about in the first place”.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An Outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 145 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 45 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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