Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 117 | Wed 20 Jul 2011

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SUDAN: SOUTHERNERS LOSE CITIZENSHIP AND JOBS
plus EVIDENCE OF NUBA GENOCIDE
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By Elizabeth Kendal

On 19 December 2010 Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir addressed a rally in
Gedaref, northern Sudan, about 400km south-east of Khartoum. He told the
crowds, ‘If South Sudan secedes, we will change the constitution and at
that time there will be no time to speak of diversity of culture and
ethnicity. Sharia [Islamic law] and Islam will be the main source for the
constitution, Islam the official religion and Arabic the official
language.’ The President was never going to accept cultural diversity —
at least not with equality and liberty. Islamic imperialism and Arab
supremacy are the root of all Sudan’s troubles. That is exactly why South
Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011. And this is why ethnically and religiously
diverse Sudan will never have peace under the regime of Omar el-Bashir.

On Wednesday 13 July 2011 Sudan’s parliament in Khartoum passed a new
nationality law that automatically strips South Sudanese of their
citizenship. As MP Ismail al-Haj Musa confirmed: ‘All the southerners are
going to lose their Sudanese nationality directly.’ Whilst dual
citizenship will be available in South Sudan, it will not be available in
Sudan. Essentially, southerners will have to decide whether they want to
take northern or southern citizenship. While hundreds of thousands of
southerners have recently returned to the south, more than a million still
live in the north, with many having lived there all their lives. According
to the Sudan Tribune (13 July) government institutions have sacked their
southern employees and government advertisements are calling for private
sector companies to provide a list of their southern employees. From now
on South Sudanese will be treated as foreigners in the north, needing
residency and work permits. Prominent lawyer and human rights advocate Dr
Amin Maki Madani maintains that the law is unconstitutional.

In a speech to the National Assembly on Tuesday 12 July, President el-
Bashir told the parliament that Sudan was entering a new era, a ‘second
republic’. Adlan el-Hardello, a political science professor at the
University of Khartoum, believes el-Bashir is posturing and appeasing,
raising the hopes of those who long for change, without the intention of
ever delivering any. El-Bashir also offered to extend the deadlines for
‘popular consultations’ in South Kordofan and Blue Nile, ‘to allow the
people of both states more time to consult and remedy the situations’.
Whilst this sounds generous, doubtless its intent is either to deny the
citizens their rights surreptitiously or to provide Sudan’s Armed Forces
and Arab militias more time to complete their ethnic cleansing. On 1 July
el-Bashir unashamedly declared on State television: ‘I ordered the
Sudanese Armed Forces to continue their operations in South Kordofan until
they cleanse the state of rebels.’ Consultation is so much easier after
the opposition has been annihilated. Like South Kordofan, Blue Nile is an
ethnically diverse, predominantly non-Arab state in the north.

Like South Kordofan, Blue Nile is defended by the army of the Sudan
People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLMN). The Sudan government recently
deemed the SPLMN army a foreign (i.e. southern) force — which it is not —
and ordered the disarming of all SPLMN soldiers. Naturally, the long-
persecuted, war-ravaged peoples of South Kordofan and Blue Nile are
resisting. Of course the regime is using this resistance as a pretext for
war. According to the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), South
Kordofan (which has oil) and Blue Nile (Sudan’s main source of
hydroelectric power) are entitled to determine their own futures by means
of ‘popular consultations’. If the CPA is not implemented, war will span
the whole width of Sudan, through Darfur (west), South Kordofan (centre)
and Blue Nile (east).

NUBA GENOCIDE

The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) has revealed visual evidence of mass
graves in South Kordofan, which it says ‘corroborates new eyewitness
reports . . . of systematic killings and mass burials’. The three mass
graves recently appeared adjacent to the Episcopal Church of Sudan
compound in Kadugli. Each measures about 26m by 5m so is large enough to
hold many thousands of corpses. Many members of the Diocese of Kadugli are
believed to be among the dead. Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail of the Episcopal
Diocese of Kadugli is stranded in the US where he has been receiving
medical treatment. He said he is devastated that his ‘friends, brothers
and sisters, children, my flock, have been killed mercilessly and are
lying now in mass graves in Kadugli’. The UN expresses concern for some
7000 Nuba who were receiving aid and protection in the UN Headquarters in
Kadugli. They were forcibly removed by Sudanese forces on 20 June and
remain ‘unaccounted for’.

Why, O LORD, do you stand far away?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1 ESV)

Like the wicked of Psalm 10:2-9, President Omar el-Bashir crushes the
helpless (v10) while saying in his heart: ‘God has forgotten, he has
hidden his face, he will never see it (v11). [He] will not call [me] to
account’ (v13).

PLEASE PRAY FOR SUDAN (using Psalm 10)

* ‘Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted’
(v12). This we know: God does see and take note in order that he might
act (v14).

* O LORD, break the power — political, economic, military — of the
wicked and evildoer, ‘call his wickedness to account till you find
none’ (v15).

* O LORD, you who are king forever, hear the desire of the afflicted;
strengthen their heart; incline your ear to do justice, ‘so that man
who is of the earth may strike terror no more’ (vv16-18).

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SUMMARY TO USE IN BULLETINS UNABLE TO RUN THE WHOLE ARTICLE
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DISCRIMINATION AND GENOCIDE ROCK SUDAN

South Sudan seceded from the north on 9 July 2011. Only four days later,
Sudan’s parliament in Khartoum passed a law that stripped citizenship from
over a million South Sudanese who live in the north. Those predominantly
Christian Southerners are also losing their jobs and rights. President El-
Bashir has already stated he will amend the constitution, making Islam the
state religion, Islamic Sharia the main source of law and Arabic the
official language. Meanwhile, the Satellite Sentinel Project has revealed
visual evidence of three mass graves capable of holding many thousands of
corpses, adjoining the Episcopal Church of Sudan compound in Kadugli,
South Kordofan. Many thousands of African, predominantly Christian Nuba
are believed to be buried there, victims of the new Nuba Genocide. Please
pray for Sudan and its Christians.

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We suggest that churches and fellowships using the above Summary might
also provide a copy of the listed prayer points to be used in their
worship by people who are leading in prayer.

For more information, updates and helpful links see Elizabeth Kendal’s
blog ‘Religious Liberty Monitoring’ <http://elizabethkendal.blogspot.com>.

This RLPB was written for the Australian Evangelical Alliance Religious
Liberty Commission (AEA RLC) by Elizabeth Kendal, an international
religious liberty analyst and advocate, and a member of the AEA RLC team.
Previous bulletins may be viewed at
<http://www.ea.org.au/ea-family/Religious-Liberty/Prayer-Postings.aspx>.

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