Anglican Headquarters in Sudan UnlawfullyTaken Over

(Compass) – Nine months after the Anglican Church headquarters in Khartoum was confiscated at gun point, the Arab company now claiming ownership of the property has started making renovations to the building in violation of a court injunction. The June 2004 judicial order forbids Al-Ghazal Residence Enterprises from tampering with the property until the courts resolve the ownership dispute. The attorney for the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) filed objections against the renovations before the Khartoum Public Court, prompting a written response from the construction company’s lawyer acknowledging the court injunction — and flatly denying that his clients were working on the premises. During a visit to Sudan last month, former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey raised the thorny issue in a face-to-face meeting with Sudanese First Vice President Ali Osman Taha. Part of the Anglican Communion, the ECS is the largest Christian church in Sudan with about five million members.