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Sudan: Militants Kill Christian, Set Church Ablaze

Most Sudanese Christians are Roman Catholic or Protestant. There is a small number of Greek Orthodox Christians there. Click here for information about Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Khartoum.

For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in Sudan, see here.

“Militants in Sudan Kill Christian, Set Church Building Ablaze,” Morning Star News, January 18, 2024:

JUBA, South Sudan (Morning Star News) – A Sudanese Christian 85 miles southeast of Khartoum has succumbed to his injuries after militants from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) assaulted him, sources said.

Personnel from the RSF, which has been fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 15, severely assaulted Karbino Bla in Wad Medani, capital of Al Jazirah state on Jan. 1, following the militants’ takeover of the city on Dec. 18. The motives for the assault were unclear.

Bla, a member of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC), died on Jan. 5 as a result of the injuries, area sources said. He is survived by his wife and an infant daughter.

“This a great lost to the evangelical church in Medani,” a relative said.

Rights organizations and area residents report the RSF has killed civilians, raped women and girls and looted homes and shops since taking control of the state in December.

On Friday (Jan. 12), Muslim extremists from the RSF set a church building on fire in Wad Medani, said area sources, including a SPEC pastor. The blaze destroyed Bibles, hymnbooks, important documents and chairs in the building, he said.

Christians in Sudan fear they are being increasingly targeted, the pastor said.

“There are radical Muslims among RSF,” the pastor said in an online post. “I met some of them in Khartoum and Medani who badly harassed me when they learned that I was a pastor.”

In Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian, Sudan was ranked No. 8, up from No. 10 the previous year.

Sudan had dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years when it first ranked No. 13 in the 2021 World Watch List.

Fighting between the RSF and the SAF, which had shared military rule in Sudan following an October 2021 coup, has terrorized civilians in Khartoum and elsewhere, leaving more than 12,000 people dead and displacing an estimated 5.8 million others.

Christian sites have been targeted since the conflict began….

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