More than 150 churches have been damaged or destroyed in Sudan since the war began last April, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
Website Evangelical Focus reports that the conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has already claimed over 13,000 lives and devastated religious communities.
There has been a notable increase over recent months in the destruction of religious sites. USCIRF has called for governments and non-state actors to abide by international law to protect these sites. But examples of wanton destruction abound. Last January, for example, RSF militants set fire to an Evangelical church in Wad Madani, Gezira. Built in 1939, it was the largest religious structure in the state.
Christians are frequently victims too. In May 2023, armed assailants entered a church and shot four people, including a priest and his son, and stabbed the church guard before looting the building. RSF militants also killed Hidar Al Amin, a member of the Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church in Omdurman, during a raid. His property was then looted.
In another incident, evangelical pastor Kowa Shamal narrowly escaped death after RSF militants ordered him to renounce his faith. He refused, leading to a physical confrontation that ended with his 23-year-old nephew’s murder: the RSF killed him because he refused to remove the cross he wore around his neck.
The conflict has deeply affected Sudan’s Christian minority, estimated at about 2 million, or 4.5% of the country’s population of more than 43 million.
The violence has also left millions displaced, with civilians bearing the brunt of the power struggle between the SAF and the RSF. As fighting continues minority groups, especially Christians, fear the situation could worsen even after the war ends, raising concerns about future persecution, particularly if the harsher aspects of Sharia Islamic law are introduced.
