St. Joseph's Catholic Church at 10 Croton Falls Road PO Box 719, Croton Falls, NY 10519 US - Sudan And It's History Of Tragedy

·         Christians, moderate Muslims and traditionalists are persecuted by the radical Islamic fundamentalist government of the North based in Khartoum, Sudan's capital city.

·         Calculated human displacement is ongoing to clear the way for oil pipelines in the South which are financed, built and managed by Western and Asian companies. The leaders of these companies, and in some cases their countries, are complicit in the displacement and horror by virtue of negotiating their deals with Khartoum to extract Sudan’s rich natural resources in the South. 

·         More people from southern Sudan and the Nuba Mountains have been murdered than all the victims in Kosovo, Bosnia and Rwanda combined.

·         Almost three million people have died since 1983.

·         Murder, slavery, starvation, and forced conversions to Islam all contribute to the people of south Sudan living under the harshest genocidal conditions.

·         Imposed Sharia law violates international human rights by lack of gender equality, freedom of religion, and extreme penal code applications which include stoning, mutilation, and crucifixions. 

·         Over four million people have been displaced within Sudan; many are in concentration camps in the northern desert.  This includes 2 million in and around Khartoum. 

·         Half a million Sudanese refugees have spilled into neighboring countries causing political and refugee destabilization of the 9 countries bordering Sudan.

·         Sudan has an estimated population of 32-36 million.  A census hasn’t been taken in recent history due to the war.

·         Sudan has the largest dislocation in the world today. One out of every eight people rendered homeless by war around the world is from Sudan.(God, Oil & Country, p. 3.)

·         Sudan is 65% African and 35% Arab. Over 70% of the Sudanese are Muslim, of whom a large percentage is of African descent.(God, Oil & Country, p. 5.)

·         The reality is much more complex than the stereotype of an Arab Muslim north battling an African Christian south.(God, Oil & Country, p. 5.)

·         The percentage of Christians is rapidly increasing, from 10 to 15% or more.

The Christian population is divided between Catholic and Episcopalian, with some Presbyterians.

·         Africa has the highest rate of evangelization, and Sudan is the highest in Africa. 

*God, Oil & Country, Changing the Logic of War in Sudan.

International Crisis Group 2002,John Prendergast, primary author