wfn.org | Episcopal Diocese Announces Protests at Sudan Embassy

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

ACNS 3834     |     USA & AFRICA     |	   26 MAY 2004

Letter to the Islamic Republic of Sudan's Ambassador to the United
States of America from the Diocese of Virginia, USA

His Excellency Khidir Haroun Ahmed
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of the Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008-2849

Dear Mr Ambassador,

We are writing to inform you that beginning on 26 May, the Episcopal
Diocese of Virginia, working with Christians and others of good will who
support human rights, will be organising protests of ongoing human
rights violations and continued religious persecution in the Sudan. The
protests will take place at your Embassy.

We are protesting four specific situations:

(A) Widespread ethnic cleansing in Darfur, in western Sudan, by
government sponsored militia. These militias have systematically
murdered, raped, and pillaged this area and displaced hundreds of
thousands of people, turning them into refugees. The militias are
reportedly Arab and their victims of black African extraction; almost
all the victims are reportedly Muslims. We call upon the Government of
Sudan to stop this vicious, racist genocide, and to allow relief
organisations and human rights monitors full access to provide relief to
the people and to identify those responsible for punishment. The
International Crisis Group reports that as many as 350,000 people may
perish in the next nine months in this area unless relief supplies are
soon admitted and the situation stabilised. This is almost as many
people as the United States lost in World War II.

(B) Massacres by militias in Malakal province in late March and early
April, resulting in the displacement of over ten thousand people,
accompanied by murder, rape, and looting by the militia personnel.
Government military units did nothing to defend the people from this
rampage. We call upon the Government of Sudan to restore the displaced
people to their homes and to identify and punish those responsible,
including the military leaders who failed to stop the slaughter.

(C) The attack Thursday, 20 May, on the headquarters of the Episcopal
Church in Khartoum and the seizure of the church's buildings and
property. This premeditated attack on the headquarters of one of the
largest Christian denominations in Sudan makes a mockery of claims of
religious freedom or tolerance for Christians. The transparent pretext
used in making this attack - claiming that a deposed bishop had sold the
property, which he never owned - makes clear that the Government
continues its systematic and virulent persecution of the institutional
church as well as individual Christians in Sudan. We call upon the
government to restore the property promptly to the church and to pay
compensation for the property it has destroyed.

(D) Earlier this month, the destruction of church schools in Renk, on
the pretext of highway construction. These schools have been supported
by churches in the Diocese of Virginia; some of our people have visited
them as well, as has Bishop Gray, one of the signatories below. They
were bulldozed to make way for a road that leads from nowhere to
nowhere; the government has not replaced them or compensated the church
for them, even though the secondary school had done an excellent job of
preparing students for college examinations, judging by the results of
those tests. We call upon the Government of Sudan to compensate the
church and forthwith issue all necessary permits to rebuild the
destroyed schools.

It is clear to us from this continued pattern of vicious persecution and
human rights violations, that the Government of Sudan has no intention
of changing its ways. This conduct raises grave questions about the
Government's good faith in any peace agreement and suggests that no
Christian is safe from persecution in your country. We call upon you, as
representative of your Government, to take prompt steps to rectify these
human rights abuses and to restore the church's property in Khartoum and
Renk.

We intend to continue to exercise our rights to protest the continuing
human rights violations by your government, and to take appropriate
action through legislative and other means to urge the United States
Government to take vigorous action to combat these human rights abuses
and persecution in Sudan.

Very truly yours,

The Rt Revd Peter James Lee
Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia

The Rt Revd David C Jones
Bishop Suffragan, Diocese of Virginia

The Rt Revd Francis C Gray
Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Virginia

Further Sudan news from the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa
(CAPA)

Spotlight turns to Sudan

By Justus Waimiri

With violence escalating in northern Uganda, church leaders from around
Africa have expressed "absolute shock" at the atrocities in Sudan.

Led by the General Secretary of the All Africa Conference of Churches
(AACC), Rt Revd Dr Mvume Dandala, the leaders said the current situation
in the Sudan was reminiscent of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. "We as
the church cannot sit back as we watch others face hell on earth," said
Dr Dandala soon after returning from a fact-finding mission in Sudan.

He was accompanied by among others, the Rt Revd Valentine Mokiwa, the
Anglican Bishop of Dar-es-Salaam, the Rt Revd Pie Ntukamazina of Burundi
and Dr Nyasanko-ni-Nku, who is President of AACC. The team said they had
received reports that within the last week homes of an estimated 23,000
villagers had been razed in the Upper Nile region. They said militias
were moving towards the northern part of the Upper Nile causing
thousands of helpless villagers to flee their homes.

So far 150,000 people have been displaced and humanitarian agencies have
left the area. "Together with Dafur, the recent unfolding situation
truly lends itself to a genocide in the making. It resembles Rwanda ten
years ago when the world merely watched as tragic events took place,"
said Dr Dandala.

He said there was a great need for the world to put in place support
structures that would enable the Sudan peace process - underway in
Naivasha, Kenya - and subsequent agreements, to contain the tragic
destruction. They also called for an immediate end to the human rights
violations going on in Darfur.

Meanwhile, armed police forcefully gained entry into the Episcopal
Church of the Sudan (ECS) provincial office in Khartoum last week and
evicted staff from the building. The police were enforcing a court order
that required the church to leave as the property had been sold off by a
former Bishop of the church. Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa
(CAPA) General Secretary, Canon John Kanyikwa said he was saddened by
the move, which he termed as uncalled for. He urged the authorities in
Sudan to respect private property.

Others who strongly criticised the eviction are the Rt Rev Francis Gray
of Diocese of Virginia and US Congressman Frank Wolf. The Episcopal
Church of Sudan has also written a protest letter to the state
authorities in Khartoum in which they objected the eviction and the
manner in which it was carried out. Elsewhere, the Episcopal Diocese of
Virginia has organised a peaceful march in Washington DC on Wednesday to
call the attention of the world to the human rights abuses in Sudan.

Letter from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan to the Sudanese
Government:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/38/00/acns3832.cfm

For further information on the Episcopal Church of the Sudan:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/tour/province.cfm?ID=S6

___________________________________________________________________
ACNSlist, published by Anglican Communion News Service, London, is
distributed to more than 7,500 journalists and other readers around
the world.

For subscription INFORMATION please go to:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/acnslist.html