ICC Note
Sudan has for years now restricted the ability of Christians to openly proclaim, worship and study their faith. In 2001, after South Sudan seceded from its northern half, Omar al-Bashir made a statement that he wanted to move Sudan to a 100% Islam run government and constitution. He said that since all of the Christians lived in the South or could move there, that there was no need to allow Christianity. This has led to the closing and destruction of Churches, harassment of Christians and church leaders, and the confiscation and destruction of all Christian literature. There are some that are hoping the because the U.S. was willing to lift sanctions on Sudan, that Khartoum will be more willing to allow Christians to at least get bibles once again.
2017-10-28 Sudan (World Watch Monitor) Measures by the Sudanese government to prevent Bibles from entering the country are leaving the churches there with a serious shortage of Scripture and teaching materials.
One senior church leader, who has overseen the import of hundreds of thousands of Bibles and other pieces of Christian literature to Sudan, told World Watch Monitor the Bible Society has not had Bibles to distribute in Sudan since around 2013.
He said there are about 1 million Christians in Sudan, around five per cent of the population, disputing the official figure of three per cent.
“They need Bibles, they need materials. It’s very difficult for them to get them now,” he said. “The government is denying their right to know their own belief and study their own religion.”
Sudanese Christians point to a 2011 speech by President Omar al-Bashir in which he said wanted to adopt a “100 per cent” Islamic constitution after the Christian-majority south had voted to secede. Since then, foreign missionaries have been expelled, churches confiscated or demolished, and leaders harassed and arrested.
The church leader listed ways in which the government has restricted access to Christian literature. The Logos bookshop in Khartoum was shut down in 2013 after almost 20 years and its books were confiscated. In Khartoum North officials confiscated all the books from one shop’s storeroom, he said. Also in the capital, officials seized books from two containers stored in a church compound (all in 2013).
Another Christian NGO working in the region said it had not been able to bring Bibles into Sudan since 2012.
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