Violence reaches Christian refuge in Sudan

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS)—A region in Sudan once a safe haven for refugees and where nearly half the population is Christian has become another scene of deadly violence, as the country’s army and paramilitary battle in the fourth year of war.

The peak of the violence in the Nuba Mountains, a region in the South-Central state of South Kordofan where those of different faiths have long lived side by side, has killed Christian clergy and their followers, prompting Christian humanitarian groups and watchdogs to speak out.

The region has absorbed close to one million people—mainly Christian refugees—since the early stages of the war, which began in 2023.

The war between the country’s military and Rapid Support Forces has killed an estimated 59,000 people, though aid groups believe the number could be much higher.

Last week, a rebel struck two villages there, killing at least 27 people—including four children—and injured many others.

The latest incident in the escalating violence came after the killing of a Protestant pastor in late July and a Catholic priest in mid-June.

Abel Idris Jongool, a priest of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Sudan in Debe, died of his injuries after a July 24 attack on his community near Korkel Theological College, the Anglican seminary serving both dioceses in the Nuba Mountains.

On June 19, Father Youhanna Al-Amin was shot and killed by militants in Kauda.

A Christian refuge amid decades of persecution

“It’s difficult for the people after the killing of the religious leaders. Many of them are disturbed that their religious leaders are being targeted,” Bolis Jacob Medan, a Sudanese Christian youth leader and an activist in the area, told Religion News Service on Thursday, Aug. 27.

“The leaders lived among the people, offering services beyond just spiritual needs. The local people feel they have lost pastors who were standing for them.”

Approximately 45 percent of those in the Nuba Mountains identify as Christians. Across Sudan, an estimated 93 percent of the population is Muslim and 5 percent Christian.

With the largest Christian population in the war-torn country, the Nuba Mountain region is significant for Christian organizations and charities that partner with local churches to deliver humanitarian, educational, and health assistance.

The majority of the inhabitants in the rugged and mountainous region are Black Africans who have endured genocidal campaigns from successive Khartoum governments.

In 1992, the Sudanese government declared jihad against the people and went on to carry out a brutal military campaign that killed an estimated 100,000 people in one year, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Sudanese governments that followed have targeted the people of the Nuba Mountains, but as the current war intensified, the region became a sanctuary for civilians fleeing attacks in combat zones and other towns.

Rebels who are part of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the north have established a partial government area, providing some security.

That rebel faction, however, has aligned with RSF and is in conflict with the Otoro tribe, one of the ethnic communities in the area.

And as the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary RSF are turning the surrounding areas into battlefronts, violence is expanding around key towns in the Nuba Mountains, including Kauda and Heiban.

New fighting threatens coexistence

Christians from the Nuba Mountains—who have been subjected to persecution in northern states over accusations they were Western spies and part of rebel movements—have largely known peaceful coexistence, said Kiri Kankhwende, press and public affairs team leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide, a human rights group.

However, as a result of the war, things have started to change.

Kankhwende said the majority of the ethnic groups fighting in Heiban now are themselves Christian. As such, her organization has made contact with many leaders in the region who have been calling for peace and trying to intervene positively, she said.

“These are the areas where we have reported attacks on religious leaders, and these incidents are unusual for the region, which has known high levels of peaceful coexistence between faiths,” Kankhwende said.

“We are aware of an initiative led by religious leaders to calm the situation,” she added. “There have also been initiatives targeting the youth to attempt to bring peace back into the region.”

Catholic Bishop Christian Carlassare of Bentiu, in neighboring South Sudan, said a main problem is widespread insecurity produced by the proliferation of weapons in the hands of everyone.

“On the ground there are myriad … factions, armed groups, mercenaries … because fighting has become a business,” he said.

Francis Kuria Kagema, the secretary general of the African Council of Religious Leaders—Religions for Peace, told RNS the devastating war that has displaced millions of civilians depressed the religious communities.

“It is very saddening to hear of attacks in the Nuba Mountains,” he said in an interview on Wednesday, Aug. 26.

“We condemn whichever forces are responsible. We are very concerned that there seems to have been a targeting of mainly Christians.”

Kagema, a leader in interreligious dialogue and advocacy, warned the Sudanese conflict is not a religious one and that attacking one religious group would inflame religious passions and further escalate the situation.

“We urge the parties involved to be sensitive to this, because once the religious passions are inflamed, it would become more difficult to deal with the fundamental issues in the conflict,” he said.

Wissam al-Saliby, president of 21Wilberforce, condemned the attacks on civilians and religious leaders and encouraged deescalation of tensions and restoration of peaceful coexistence.

“We should be deeply troubled by the violence unfolding in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, including the killing of Christian clergy and civilians. Religious leaders are not only spiritual leaders; they are often trusted voices providing humanitarian assistance, reconciliation, and hope to communities caught in conflict,” al-Saliby said.

“As an advocacy organization, we are amplifying the calls being made by religious leaders on the ground who are calling for a de-escalation of tensions and peaceful coexistence,” Kankhwende said.