A school in Sudan. (cc)
Photo: Flickr / SuSanA Secretariat
A judge in eastern Sudan ordered a Christian school, which government officials had previously taken over, to resume classes under the prior Christian administration. "The court has ordered the school to continue its function with the current administration and without interference from the commissioner," announced the school's headmaster, Rev. Samuel Suleiman Anglo. "Things are normal, thank God."
The Appeal Court for Administrative Affairs in Madani, Al Jazirah state, cancelled a previous order by which the Madani commissioner had called for the closure of the Evangelical Basic School. On October 24th, armed police -- along with civilians from Khartoum and elsewhere -- had seized the school, which serves more than a thousand students aged three to 18 and belongs to the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church.
Harassment, arrests and persecution of Christians of various denominations have intensified in Sudan since the secession of South Sudan in July 2011. Since 2012, Sudan has expelled foreign Christians and bulldozed church buildings on the pretext that they belonged to the South Sudanese.
The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Endowments announced in April 2013 that no new licenses would be granted for the building of new churches in Sudan, citing a decrease in the South Sudanese population. To learn more about the political and spiritual climate of this country, click here.
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