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Peace Process Update
Many have been carefully following the peace talks between the government of Sudan and the rebel army because of the significant impact on Christians in southern Sudan. On July 22, the Religious Liberty Conference of the World Evangelical Alliance released an update on the peace process. Below is the update, as released:
UPDATE ON THE SUDAN PEACE PROCESS
Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance - Religious Liberty e-mail Conference.
http://www.worldevangelical.org/rlc.html
MACHAKOS TALKS - JULY 2002
Twelve months ago, on 20 July 2002, a historic peace deal was signed in Machakos, Kenya, between the Government of Sudan (GoS) and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A). That document, known as the Machakos Protocol, provided a 'roadmap' for peace in Sudan.
The Sudan peace talks are sponsored by the regional Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which groups Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and nominally Somalia.
The Machakos Protocol granted Southern Sudan the right to hold an internationally supervised referendum on independence after six years of autonomous rule, and full religious freedom. Of course many hurdles lay ahead. The issues of power-sharing, wealth-sharing and religious freedom still loomed large. Efforts to resolve these issues would test the signatories' commitment to peace as talks progressed over the following year.
However, Machakos only happened because after 11 September 2001, the GoS came under intense international pressure to make peace, primarily from a US administration waging a war on international terrorism. It was a watershed moment for Sudan.
After the signing of the Machakos Protocol, Rev. Enock Tombe of Sudan's Council of Churches said "both sides now must move quickly to remove the remaining hurdles to peace before momentum is lost." Unfortunately, as international attention has drifted elsewhere - primarily to Iraq and the "axis of evil" (which did not include Sudan) - hurdles have not been removed and momentum, along with international attention, pressure and patience, has waned. The concern is now that the peace process may flounder.
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Machakos was a deal between the GoS and the SPLM/A. Yet for any peace deal to work, it had to include the other opposition parties, it had to be widened; it had to have a national consensus.
KHARTOUM DECLARATION
On Saturday 24 May 2003, John Garang, who heads the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and Sadeq al-Mahdi, head of the Umma Party, and Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, met for talks in Mirghani's home in Cairo where he lives in exile.
"Any peace agreement reached in Machakos will require a national consensus," said Garang. "We are doing the homework for this consensus." (AFP 25 May) One appeal to come from this meeting was that the national capital, Khartoum, be ruled under secular rather than Islamic laws.
Presidential Peace Adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani said this was out of the question. President Omar el-Beshir declared Khartoum "will never be secular and we will sacrifice our souls" to prevent this. "We took power on June 30 (1989) to foil a conspiracy for abrogating Islamic Sharia." He said opposition leaders Mahdi and Mirghani "are planning to undermine the negotiations and thus torpedo the entire peace process" (AFP 18 June). "Any attempt to renegotiate that (Khartoum's religion) question will mean undermining the peace talks and aborting the peace process," said el-Beshir (AP 19 June).
Then in early July, 18 opposition parties, 15 non-government organizations and more than 40 individual opposition leaders signed The Khartoum Declaration, which calls for Khartoum to be a national secular capital, an end of one-party rule, a release of political prisoners and a transitional government to supervise general elections. The Khartoum Declaration was due to be unveiled to the media on 2 July, but a government crackdown on opposition figures prevented it.
ISLAMIST PRESSURE
There is a lot of Islamist pressure rising in Khartoum. On 26 June, some 5,000 armed fighters of the Islamist Popular Defence Force (PDF) rallied in Khartoum vowing to support jihad and el-Beshir's "revolution of national salvation" (national Islamisation). (DPA 27 June). On 4 July, Khartoum's leading islamist scholars issued a fatwah: "Whoever approves or calls for the application of a ruling other than the Islamic Shariah - like those who call for socialism or communism or other subversive beliefs that contradict Islamic thought - is, frankly, an apostate," and as such deserves to be killed. Fourteen prominent scholars, including two university professors, signed the fatwah. (AP 4 July).
NAKURU TALKS - JULY 2003
From 6 - 11 July, meetings that were supposed to be the final stage of IGAD mediated talks were held in Nakuru, 160km (100 miles) west of Nairobi, Kenya. Those talks were intended to finalise the outstanding issues of the status of three disputed regions -- Abyei, Southern Kordofan (Nuba Mountains), and the Blue Nile - as well as power-sharing, wealth-sharing, security arrangements during the six-year transition period, and religious freedom. Also, final documents were to be drafted for the parties to sign in mid-August.
The GoS negotiators looked at the draft document presented to them by IGAD and rejected it. A major stumbling block was the call for Khartoum to be a shared and secular capital (for north and south).
TALKS FAIL
The SPLM/A saw the draft presented in Nakuru as a basis for peace. "For us, we see it as a way forward," an SPLA source said. "We are very happy with the draft, not that we agree with all the issues but it is a basis." (Reuters 11 July).
However, the GoS response was toxic. President Omar al-Beshir told the Kenyan-based IGAD mediators that if they insisted on pushing the draft peace settlement rejected by his negotiators, then "IGAD and those behind it" could "go to hell". He told the IGAD mediators to "come up with a reasonable alternative, otherwise they have to dissolve the document in water and drink it." El-Beshir then gave a speech at Nur al-Dinn, on how Sudanese government troops had fought a 20-year war to defend Islam. El-Beshir declared his government "is committed to peace but not to surrender" (AFP 15 July).
Amin Hassan Omer, a negotiator for the GoS, described the draft as "contrary to the contents of the Machakos framework . unfair, contradictory and unfit to constitute a basis for negotiation" (DPA 12 July). The GoS has blamed IGAD for the failure of the talks and requested intervention from Egypt and the Arab League to help break the impasse (AFP 14 July). The GoS Presidential Peace Advisor, Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani, complained that the draft proposals "differ largely" from the Machakos Protocol and "pave the way for secession
of southern Sudan while Machakos calls for unity." Atabani has requested "entirely new proposals" (AFP 13 July).
The Sudan Council of Churches strongly rejects the GoS assessment, saying that the draft is indeed fair and in line with the Machakos Protocol. They also expressed concern about interference from Arab nations and the GoS request for alternative mediators, and called on the parties to return to the negotiating table. (Link 1)
The IGAD chief mediator, General Lazaro Sumbeiywo, also disagrees with the GoS assessment, maintaining that the peace draft is fair, impartial, balanced and supported by the international community.
"END GAME"
There is great concern that Washington, which appears to be running out of patience and commitment, might buckle under pressure from Khartoum and press for a "peace at any cost" deal. John Danforth, the special envoy of the US President George W. Bush in Sudan, has expressed his frustration, declaring that this is the "end game", and warning that the international community would divert its attention from Sudan if an agreement is not be made very quickly (Link 2).
It is unlikely that the GoS would view that as a threat -- probably more of an opportunity -- while it would truly signal an "end game" scenario for the Southern Sudanese. Even as the Nakuru talks were getting underway the GoS was resupplying its southern military garrison in Juba in direct violation of the Memorandum of Understanding of 15 October 2002.
The GoS has repeatedly terrorised and starved its people and violated ceasefire agreements with impunity -- and impunity equals permission. As such, one wonders whether the GoS has any desire to pursue peace or even if they have any reason to.
The GoS is a brutal regime that stops at nothing. Just last week GoS warplanes conducted bombing raids of twenty-five villages in northwest Darfur, western Sudan, killing at least 300 villagers and wounding 200, with many dying as victims of a "toxic gas". The GoS targeted the region because it believes the inhabitants support an opposition movement. (AFP 20 July). It is not the first time the GoS has used chemical or biological weapons. This is a regime that has used starvation as a weapon of mass destruction.
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A rejection of the IGAD mediation and draft peace proposals would seriously undermine the very principle of a diplomatic, democratic peace process, and fail the long-suffering people of Sudan who have lived with poverty, jihad and repression for far too long. Negotiations are supposed to recommence on 23 July, but there is already talk of postponement.
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Links
1) Sudan Council of Churches Speaks On Peace Process Catholic Information Service for Africa, Nairobi, 18 July 2003
2) Danforth: we have reached the end of the game in Sudan Sudan-USA, Politics, ArabicNews.com 7/19/2003 (http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/030719/2003071909.html)
For further background see: WEA RLC Sudan - Translating a Document into a Reality, 26 July 2002 (http://www.worldevangelical.org/persec_sudan_26jul02.html)
For news on Sudan (including the other articles referred to in this posting) see (http://www.sudan.net/news/news.html)
Islamic Leaders Issue Fatwah
As peace talks between the Sudanese government and southern rebels resumed in Kenya, and in advance of student union elections at Khartoum University, leading Islamic scholars issued a "fatwah" or religious edict on Friday, July 4. The fatwah, published in the independent weekly Akhbar Alyoum and signed by fourteen prominent scholars, including two university professors, declared that communists, socialists and others adhering to non-Sharia law in Sudan are apostates deserving of death.
The latest round of peace talks started on Sunday as a debate raged in Khartoum over whether Khartoum should become a secular national capital accommodating different religious creeds and beliefs. Last Wednesday, eighteen opposition parties, fifteen non-government organizations and more than forty individual opposition leaders released a declaration calling for Khartoum to be a national "secular" capital in the event of a peace deal between the Islamist government in Khartoum and the SPLA, which has been fighting for the rights of Christians and animists. The Khartoum Declaration also called for the end of one-party rule during a transition period of six years, as well for a transition government designed to supervise general elections. Last month, Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir lashed out at his leading opponents for advocating a national capital free of Islamic Sharia laws. In the last week, several opposition leaders involved in drafting the declaration have been arrested.
Last July, the Sudanese government and the SPLA signed a protocol providing for the separation of state and religion in southern Sudan. Glenn Penner, spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs, said, "It is obvious that this separation will not extend to the parts of the country where the government maintains control. We must not be so naïve as to believe that the Islamist government of Sudan has modified its position on the preeminence of Sharia law in Sudan as a whole. This is a brutal regime with a shameful human rights record regarding religious liberty."
Pray for those who are advocating religious liberty throughout Sudan. Pray that the international community will continue to hold Sudan accountable for its religious liberty record.
Captured Children Killed
Last week the Persecution and Prayer Alert reported on a brutal attack on a village by government forces in Sudan in which fifty-nine people were killed, including the region's only pastor, and sixteen were abducted (see https://www.vomcanada.com/sd-2003-06-04.htm).
In a press release issued today, Servant's Heart, a US non-governmental organization with whom VOM partners in south Sudan, reports that the three boys who were kidnapped, ages four and six, have all been killed while in the custody of government forces. The remaining six women and seven girls are reportedly being held in the Government of Sudan regional military headquarters next to the Adar Yel oilfields in Eastern Upper Nile. It is expected that, unless something is done to gain their release, the women will be forcibly converted to Islam or "married" to military officers and the girls sold as slaves.
Last week's report indicated that the family of Pastor Jacob Manyal was killed in the attack. It was later discovered that his wife is still alive but in captivity. She is reportedly the "guest" of the government Militia Commander Chayot in Adar Yel. Her testimony, undoubtedly gained under duress, is being used to downplay the incident. Her two sons, Ruon Gadet Manyal (6) and Reath Gadet Manyal (4) were among the three boys killed in captivity.
In response to the attack, the US-led Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) has taken an aggressive stance against Servant's Heart and reports about the attack, calling reaction to the incident "overblown." Three investigators from the CPMT visited one of Servant's Heart's operational bases in Eastern Upper Nile on June 7, demanding that Servant's Heart recant all statements. The head of the CPMT team told them, "We won't let your lies ruin this peace. We will do whatever it takes to bury this report and continue to move forward with the peace agreement." This is despite this attack being a clear violation of the ceasefire agreement. The US State Department was briefed by Servant's Heart on June 9, but has remained silent.
We encourage you to contact your local government representatives, calling on them to take action against this brutal regime. The Voice of the Martyrs' website contains links to find government contact information. Go to https://www.vomcanada.com/links.htm.
Pray for Pastor Manyal's wife, Nyaduar Deang Jany, and the other twelve still in captivity. Pray that action will be taken to have them released before they suffer any further.
Pastor and Family Among Fifty-nine Killed, Sixteen Abducted
Servant's Heart, an American non-governmental organization with whom VOM partners in southern Sudan, informed us yesterday that Government of Sudan-led military forces recently attacked ten villages in Eastern Upper Nile. During the unprovoked attack, Servant's Heart has confirmed that the troops killed the region's only Christian pastor and his family, massacred at least fifty-nine unarmed villagers, wounded fifteen and abducted ten children and six women.
Using a combination of rocket-propelled-grenade launchers (RPG's), .50 caliber heavy machine guns and assault rifles, the government-led forces attacked the village of Longochok and nine nearby villages in a night assault during the evening of May 22, catching most villagers asleep in their grass homes. Many of the homes in the ten villages were set on fire by the attackers, with many of the slain burned alive in their homes. Reports from Sudan indicate that regular army officer Second Lieutenant Mohammed Idris led the attack.
During the attack, the government-led military forces also rounded up and abducted ten young children (six girls and three boys) and six woman. Pastor Jacob Gadet Manyiel of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan, his wife and four children were burned to death as the government soldiers stood outside their house and threatened to shoot anyone in the family who tried to escape the flames.
On the very day that these atrocities were committed, US State Department Richard Boucher publicly stated, "We think there is a real prospect to reach a just and lasting conclusion to the [Sudanese] civil war." Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail said after the May 22nd meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, that his government "would sign a peace agreement with the SPLA as quickly as possible, maybe next month."
This attack directly violates the current "cease fire" between the Islamist Government of Sudan and the mainly Christian and animist Sudan People's Liberation Army. It also violates the US Senator Danforth-sponsored agreement by the Government of Sudan to not attack civilians and non-combatants. Reports indicate that there were no rebel soldiers in any of these villages.
"I am shocked by the apparent brutality of the attack," said VOM Communications Director, Glenn Penner. "But I am not surprised after what I witnessed in my recent trip to the region in February. The Sudanese government is a regime without a conscience and without honour. It should be treated as such. The Voice of the Martyrs joins with our friends at Servant's Heart in calling on the United States government to resist pressure to normalize relations with Sudan and to insist that those responsible for these attacks be arrested and prosecuted for 'crimes against humanity.' We also call upon Christians from around the world to remember the families of the slain in prayer. Also, please earnestly pray for the release of the sixteen children and women who have been abducted." Such abductions are most commonly for the purpose of enslavement. Servant's Heart has released the names of those who were abducted as:
1) Nyanop Liech Tiek - girl, 8 years old
2) Nyaluak Liech Tiek - girl, 6 years old
3) Nyabuay Liech Tiek - girl, 5 years old
4) Nyanpal Liech Tiek - girl, 2 years old
5) Ruon Gadet Manyal - boy, 6 years old
6) Reath Gadet Manyal - boy, 4 years old
7) Nyanot Lul Nyuot - girl, 8 years old
8) Nyanpal Lul Nyuot - girl, 5 years old
9) Nyabiel Lul Nyuot - girl, 2 years old
10) Duoth Chuol Kuon - boy, 4 years old
11) Nyadeng Dew Yak - woman, 35 years old
12) Nyator Gay Buok - woman, 31 years old
13) Nyanhial Gadet Bor - woman, 30 years old
14) Nyaduar Deang Jany - woman, 38 years old
15) Nyaboth Thokier Nguoy - woman, 29 years old
16) Nyamuol Chuol Nhial - woman, 62 years old
Priest Imprisoned For Not Destroying His Church
An Anglican priest was sent to prison "indefinitely" on April 7 for refusing to demolish the church he built himself eleven years ago on the outskirts of Khartoum. Judge Kamal Abd-Rahaman Alli ordered Rev. Samuel Dobai Amum to tear down St. Matthew's Parish in Takamol and surrender the land to its "rightful owner." Amum said that, while he would not resist the destruction of the building, he could not personally destroy a building devoted to God. In response, the judge sentenced him to prison until he destroys the building or pays 7 million dinars (over $3,700 CDN) to secure the land in the name of the church.
St. Matthew's Parish was established to meet the needs of refugees from southern Sudan, fleeing the ongoing conflict. In 1987 Amum built a chapel from straw in what was, at the time, unclaimed land as a place of worship for displaced Christians like himself. In 1992 it was rebuilt out of mud and straw. The church averages 150-200 members. Three years later, the government surveyed the area and, without notifying Amum, the church land was given to Awad Abdalla Bashir, a Muslim member of the Popular Committee of the local government. Soon afterwards, Bashir demanded payment from the priest for the plot of land. Initially he asked for 10,000,000 dinars but later reduced his demand to 7,999,000 dinars (over $4,200 CDN). Unable to pay such an amount of money, Amum declined and requested the courts to intervene on his behalf. Unfortunately, the court ruled against him and ordered him to demolish the building.
When a mosque is built on unclaimed land in Sudan, that land is considered community property. Apparently, the same cannot be said for Christian meeting places. In reporting the court case, a guest columnist wrote in the Khartoum Monitor, "Is it not religious discrimination? Because I am sure that if the church was a mosque, it shouldn't have been touched. Instead more land could have been added to it." According to their website (http://www.khartoum-monitor.com), the Khartoum Monitor was shut down by the government on May 8 because of articles it had written. The publisher, Nhial Bol, was also arrested on May 6 and held for 24 hours for questioning about three articles the paper had published regarding problems facing Sudan's Christian community, including the article on Amum's church.
Pray that this issue will be resolved and that St. Matthew's Parish will be able to keep its chapel. Pray for Rev. Amum as he remains in prison at this time.
No Longer a Violator of Human Rights?
In a move spearheaded by Libya, the present head of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and actively supported by France, Sudan has been dropped as a "country with special problems" in the area of human rights. In a vote of 26-24 (with three abstentions), the Commission rejected Resolution L.35 on April 16 that would have extended the human rights monitoring of Sudan for another year. The Commission ruled that there has been sufficient improvement in the area of human rights by the Khartoum government to warrant this action. This comes despite a report from the UN Special Rapporteur, Gerhard Baum, on March 28 stating that there has been no significant change in Sudan's violations of human rights in the past year. According to a press release from the Commission, some of the members felt that the resolution "did not sufficiently credit the Sudanese Government for well-intentioned efforts and progress achieved in the field of human rights."
For several years the government of Sudan has been consistently involved in ethnic cleansing, wiping out entire villages to advance its hold on oilfields, attacking civilians, supporting militia groups involved in slavery and religious persecution, and preventing aid from reaching war-torn areas.
On March 26, US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, said the United States would fight any effort to ease pressure on the government of Sudan. Despite this, on April 21, in accordance with the Sudan Peace Act, President Bush certified to various Congressional Committees his belief that both sides of the conflict were negotiating in good faith and that negotiations should continue. The president acknowledged that there have been "sporadic military activities" that have hindered the peace negotiations. The State Department Fact Sheet also acknowledged that they had received reports of violent actions against civilians and forced displacement, most notably in the Western Upper Nile. The fact that the peace talks had continued, despite these violations, since the signing of the October 15, 2002 cessation of hostilities memorandum apparently motivated the president to issue his certification. This certification came only two days after peace talks in Kenya were suspended without settling key military security arrangements. Peace talks are scheduled to resume on May 2.
Pray that the truth of what is happening in Sudan will be clearly shown, despite these setbacks. Pray that there truly will begin to be improvements in the way the Sudanese government treats its citizens, particularly in the war-torn areas of southern Sudan. Pray for church leaders as they seek to minister to those who are suffering great deprivation.
Progress and Setback in Talisman Energy Civil Suit
If accusations against Talisman Energy, one of Canada's largest oil companies, are found to be accurate, the company could be found liable for genocide, U.S. District Judge Allen Schwartz said in a ruling on March 19. This ruling allows a civil suit brought against Talisman by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan to continue.
In his 110-page ruling, Schwartz rejected arguments that allowing the case to proceed to trial might embarrass or hinder the foreign relations efforts of the United States which, among other things, has tried to broker peace within Sudan. He noted that the U.S. government has already declared Sudan a state sponsor of terrorism and that President Bush had signed the Sudan Peace Act, which includes a finding by Congress that the acts of the government of Sudan constitute genocide. "Any criticism of Sudan that would arise as a result of the adjudication of this case would be a mere drop in the bucket," Schwartz wrote.
The class action lawsuit against Talisman was filed by the Presbyterian Church of Sudan in 2001 on behalf of the non-Muslim people of southern Sudan. The suit accuses Talisman Energy of collaborating with the Sudanese government to commit human rights violations, including murder, rape, enslavement, and ethnic cleansing.
Over the last several years, Talisman Energy has been under intense pressure from religious and human rights organizations because of their oil developments in southern Sudan. Many international reports have shown that oil revenues have been used by the Sudanese government to purchase weapons used against the predominantly Christian and animist people of southern Sudan. After years of criticism, Talisman finalized the sale of their holdings in Sudan to ONGC Videsh Ltd., a subsidiary of India's national oil company, on March 12, 2003.
Tragically, however, only two days after his ruling, Judge Schwartz was killed in a driving accident on March 21. Much of the outcome of the trial will depend on the judge who takes over the case.
Pray that this case will go forward, despite this setback and that those responsible for the suffering of the people of southern Sudan will be held responsible for their actions.
Talisman Sale Finalized
Following three days of contradicting media reports, Talisman Energy confirmed today the final sale of all of its interest in the Greater Nile Oil Project in Sudan to ONGC Videsh Limited ("OVL"), a subsidiary of India's national oil company.

Talisman Energy of Calgary, Alberta has been under intense pressure from human rights organizations because of its involvement in this oil project in southern Sudan. Oil revenues have been used extensively by the government to finance weaponry and attacks which have often targeted civilians, including hospitals, churches, and relief centres. Runways supposedly for oilfield purposes only have been used by military planes to conduct these bombings. Government-backed militia groups have been guilty of involvement in massacres, torture of civilians, and other atrocities, including slavery.

With the sale of its interest in Sudan for $1.13 billion CDN, Talisman is hoping to leave behind the problems and controversy that have followed the company since its purchase of these assets in 1998. The problems that the oil development has brought to the people of Sudan, however, will not be as easily disposed.

Pray for the people of southern Sudan who face these ongoing attacks. Pray that the peace talks will be successful and that the government forces will live up to the ceasefire agreements. The feature story of the April edition of The Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter reports on the state of the church in south-eastern Sudan following a visit by Voice of the Martyrs earlier this year. Subscribe today to receive a twelve-month subscription to Canada's only monthly publication on Christian persecution.
Jerry, Jeanette and John (Editorial) Glenn Penner (Communications Director, VOM Canada)
It's been two weeks now since I returned from south Sudan and I've hardly had time to catch my breath. I was barely home for a week, when I had to jump on another plane bound for northern Vancouver Island (which, for those of you unfamiliar with Canada, is pretty much as far west as you can go in this country). I love that part of the world. The mountains, forests, clean air, and (most importantly in February) NO SNOW!
In a little town called Bowser on Vancouver Island, there lives one of the sweetest couples that I know. Jerry and Jeanette are probably one of VOM's most proactive supporters. Having heard Richard Wurmbrand, himself, a number of years ago, they have taken it upon themselves to be a voice for the voiceless in their region of British Columbia. They believe in the power of prayer. They regularly write to and on behalf of prisoners of faith, organize meetings for VOM speakers, attend our conferences and often send emails to our staff, asking questions and offering words of encouragement. It is rare that I come to an event in the Vancouver area and do not run across one or both of them.
It was a pleasure for me to stay with Jerry and Jeanette in their home again last weekend and to share with them how God has been working in my life, the life of the mission, and in the lives of our persecuted brothers and sisters in the Lord. They rejoiced when they heard of God bringing people to Himself in restricted and hostile nations of the world and they grieved when I told them of the suffering I witnessed in Sudan a week earlier. They are the type of people that remind me why I do what I do. They are those whom I remember when I am privileged to extend a hand of compassion to persecuted Christians in various nations and say, "This comes from your brothers and sisters in Canada."
Jerry and Jeanette's name were among those I gave to Dr. John Garang on January 20th, when I presented to the leader of the SPLA the signed apology forms collected by VOM. On behalf of many Canadians from across the country, I apologized to the leader of the people of south Sudan for having contributed to the suffering of the southern Sudanese people through our country's involvement in the oil industry in Sudan. I asked if he would forgive us for this wrong and accept our heartfelt apology. Visibly moved, Dr. Garang stood, took the apology forms from my hand and graciously shook my hand and expressed his gratitude for this gesture and his appreciate for our efforts on behalf of the people of south Sudan. He promised to share this apology with the people of southern Sudan, to let them know of our solidarity with them. We promised him that we would continue to pray for him and for a just and sustainable peace in Sudan.
It was only an apology, but it was the right thing to do. Did it feed the hungry? Did it stop another bomb from falling on a school, marketplace, church, or feeding centre and cutting down children with shards of shrapnel? Did it cause the government of Sudan to rewrite the constitution acknowledging the religious rights of all of Sudan's citizens to worship according to their own conscience? No on all accounts. But it was the right thing to do and that it is all of the justification that it needs. It was an apology given by ordinary, God-loving people like Jeanette and Jerry in Bowser, British Columbia. I praise God for every one of you who joined them in extending this act of repentance to our brothers and sisters in this war torn nation. It was an honour to be your representative.
(Note: the feature article in the April edition of The Voice of the Martyrs Newsletter will focus on VOM's latest ministry trip to south Sudan. Don't miss a single issue of this free one-of-a-kind publication. Subscribe today online at https://www.vomcanada.com/nlorder.htm).
Team Returns From Southeastern Sudan
A multi-ministry, international team has returned from the Blue and Upper Nile regions of southeastern Sudan after conducting an investigation of recent developments in the country and sponsoring a four-day church leaders conference.
Representatives from The Voice of the Martyrs, Servant's Heart and Freedom Quest International discovered evidence of atrocities, including the deliberate killing of young children, by troops of the Islamist government of Sudan (GOS) in direct violation of the March 2002 agreement between the GOS and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM). In the agreement, the parties agreed, among other things, to discontinue attacks against civilian targets. The team also discovered that government-backed militias continue to violate the agreed upon ceasefire. Reliable sources also report a significant military buildup in and around Juba, also in violation of the ceasefire agreement. It is feared that the government of Sudan may be preparing a major offensive to coincide with expected US-led action against Iraq, to take advantage of diverted world attention.
The GOS and SPLM are presently meeting in Kenya for peace negotiations. According to Reuters, an agreement was reached yesterday ceding control of any areas captured since October and to allow international observers to investigate any violations of the agreement. However, any optimism from this announcement is dampened by the history of violations, particularly by the Sudanese government.
A joint press release with more details on the trip to Sudan will be issued within the next day or so. Representatives from The Voice of the Martyrs, led by Communications Director Glenn Penner, also conducted a four-day church leaders conference in the town of Yabus. Local Mabaan and Uduk church leaders from the region gathered to receive specific training in discipling young Christians. The church in Sudan continues to grow at an impressive rate, but the majority of church leaders in this region have little or no biblical education. Most churches have few Bibles in their indigenous language. Presently only the New Testament is complete in the Uduk and Mabaan languages.
The Voice of the Martyrs, in partnership with Servant's Heart, anticipates launching a significant two-year theological education by extension course in the Mabaan language in early 2004. Glenn Penner, writing in an email today enroute from Africa, asked for prayer for the necessary arrangements for the development and translation of the study material into Mabaan and that the training of indigenous leadership will progress speedily. "There is a tremendous need for this course," wrote Penner. "The people there are already eagerly anticipating its launch. Pray, too, that we will see peace in Sudan. This region is near the frontlines and it is expected that it will be among the first places attacked should the GOS launch an offensive in the next month or so. So please pray!

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