![]() Terror bombings of civilian centres in Southern Sudan have intensified. Numerous churches have been bombed – including on Christmas Day. Worst hit in this bombing campaign was Moruland. Lui, Kotobi, Mundri, Jambo, Tali and Lanyi have all been repeatedly subjected to aerial bombardments by the Sudan Air Force. Churches, schools, the only hospital in Moruland and the few medical clinics appear to be the primary targets.
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y God's perfect timing, when I flew into Southern Sudan, I arrived just in time for the inauguration of the new bishop for Lui diocese in Western Equatoria. The largest Protestant denomination in Sudan is the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS). Originally established by Church of England missionaries, the ECS remains Reformed and Evangelical, mercifully spared from the devastating cancer of liberalism that has eroded most of the Anglican community world wide.
Since the war began, most ECS bishops have been appointed and installed outside the country in neighbouring Kenya or Uganda. So this instalment of the new bishop was a most significant and important social event – because it took place inside Sudan, in the newly liberated areas east of the Yei river. By God's grace, in the cargo I was smuggling into Western Equatoria were thousands of copies of the new (650 page) Moru Hymn book, prayer book and catechism. In 1996 I had brought in the first Moru catechisms and in 1997 the Moru Hymn books and prayer books. Now more were needed, so instead of three separate books we chose to combine them into one thick hard-bound book – with all the new Moru hymns. When the Christians in Moruland saw the new books there was much rejoicing and excitement. Helicopter gunships and Antonov bombers of the Government of Sudan have launched repeated intensive aerial bombardments of civilian centres in Southern Sudan. On some occasions these aerial attacks were followed up by co-ordinated ground assaults by the National Islamic Front (NIF) armed forces and Peoples Defence Force (PDF) militias.
Reports received by our mission include testimonies of ground assaults (sometimes) at night and scorched earth campaigns by government forces burning homes and grain supplies, and looting cattle. On one occasion 4 helicopter gunships and an Antonov bomber co-ordinated with ground forces to destroy everything necessary to sustain life in the area. It is over a hundred and twenty years since General Charles Gordon suppressed the slave trade in Sudan. Before he began his campaign, seven out of every eight Sudanese were slaves. Incredible as it may seem, the spectre of slave raiders swooping down on unprotected villages is once again becoming commonplace in Sudan. Tens of thousands of Sudanese Christian men, woman and children have been kidnapped and sold as slaves by government soldiers.
The thunderous sound of horses made the villagers of Nyamlell drop their hoes and scatter into the bush. Gunfire crackled around the village as 300 men on horseback, camels and on foot crashed through the fields of maize. Clad in turbans and jalabas (long white robes) they brandished AK47 and G3 assault rifles, swords and spears. Within minutes they had killed 82 men. ![]() Along with the first complete Bible in Moru, we also had the privilege of delivering the first copies of "The Doctor Comes To Lui." This long out-of-print book on the beginnings of the church in Moruland had first been published in 1938. However, with all the disruption and destruction of the war, no copies of this inspiring book remained in Southern Sudan. I sent out requests to several friends worldwide to hunt out a copy of this rare book. By God’s grace, Christopher Williams tracked down a copy of this precious book in a second hand book shop in England. ![]() As the Frontline Fellowship missionary teams prepared for their thirty-fourth mission trip to Sudan, reports came in of a massive build-up of forces and a continuous bombardment by artillery and air attacks – in the very areas they needed to travel to and minister in. There were increasing reports of the use of chemical weapons by the National Islamic Front government of Sudan. Many Arab soldiers captured by the resistance forces had been found to be equipped with gas masks. An offensive was considered imminent. In fact, the United Nations (UN) declared a “Level 4” (the highest security alert) and evacuated all NGO (non governmental organisation) relief workers out of the areas in Southern Sudan that we work in. Tension was high in the aftermath of the East African terror bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and the US retaliatory missile strikes against Khartoum – the capital of Sudan. The Americans on our mission teams were warned not to travel to Sudan at such a volatile time. ![]() The longest war of this century is still in progress and is intensifying - in the largest country in Africa, Sudan. The Muslim Arab North has been attacking the Christians in the Black South. The death toll since 1955 is estimated at 2 million. The atrocities have been the most severe in the Nuba Mountains. Most of the villages and churches have been destroyed, hundreds of Christians crucified, and over one million people have been forced into concentration camps. Christian soldiers, who are literally fighting for their lives, point out that the Christians in Sudan have a heritage of standing firm as a bulwark against the expansion of militant Islam into Central Africa - for 14 centuries. ![]() The Fraser Cathedral in Lui, Western Equatoria in Southern Sudan,has been hit and severely damaged by bombs dropped by Sudan Air Force antonovs. . Today, Frontline Fellowship received a letter from Rev. Kenneth Baringwa in which he reports that there have been bombing raids in the entire Mundri County and it is very heavy Since the end of July the predominantly Christian villages of the Kaya region of southern Sudan have been subjected to systematic bombing by the Sudanese Air Force.
The aerial attacks on the Kaya tribesmen mark yet another escalation of the Islamic governments’ war against the Christian South. The bombing seems to be designed to strike terror amidst the civilian population and to undermine resistance to the planned dry-season ground assault. Over 100 000 people lost their homes and fled the bombing. Since 1956 the successive Muslim governments of Sudan have waged a series of wars against the Christian and animist black population in the South. The Muslim leaders are determined to impose Islamic law even on the Christians. Volume 2 - 1988
The twenty-six-year civil war between the Muslim Arab north and the Christian Black south of SUDAN has led to about one million deaths. Over three million people have fled as refugees from the carnage in the southern part of Sudan. Nearly two million have sought refuge in the outskirts of the capital, Khartoum. Vast squatter camp slums have developed disease-ridden, unhygienic ghettos where extended families live in the most primitive and over crowded conditions. |
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