Source: http://rlprayerbulletin.blogspot.com
Date: September 16, 2020
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | RLPB 567
By Elizabeth Kendal
BACKGROUND
Expansive Sudan is home to numerous ethnic groups and religious traditions. For decades, the central government's racist Arab supremacy (resulting in the marginalisation and persecution of non-Arabs) and totalitarian Islamic supremacy (resulting in Islamic jihad against those who resist the imposition of Islamic Sharia Law) caused nothing but suffering and war; it also led to the break-up of the state. The cost (in life and wealth) was enormous! However, it was a cost not paid by the regime in Khartoum, but rather by the Sudanese people, and especially by the non-Arabs and non-Muslims of the periphery.
Between December 2018 and April 2019 - in what must go down in history as one of the greatest people-movements of the early 21st Century - multitudes of Sudanese rose up declaring, 'Enough!'. Even after the military toppled the regime, the protesters bravely stood their ground declaring, 'No! Still not enough!' and demanded civilian rule. The protesters' insistence that Sudan be recognised as multi-racial and multi-religious, as well as free and democratic was beyond inspirational! [See RLPB 502 (15 May 2019)].
PM Abdulla Hamdok
Ultimately, to move forward without bloodshed, a compromise had to be reached. The Sovereignty Council was established as a transitional administration comprising both civilians and military. After nearly 40 years of Islamist-military rule, the difficulty of freeing Sudan from the grip of an Islamist Deep State cannot be overstated! [See RLPB 516 (21 Aug 2019)]
Despite protests and a failed assassination attempt [RLPB 540 (11 Mar 2020)], Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok is making every effort to bring about the changes so many Sudanese are demanding, including their demand for peace. He deserves all the support he can get.
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SUDAN: PEACE AND LIBERTY, HOPE AND RESISTANCE.
In South Sudan's capital, Juba, on Monday 31 August, after nearly a full year of talks, representatives from Sudan's Sovereignty Council initialled a peace agreement with representatives from the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF), a coalition of rebel groups that have been fighting Khartoum's Arab-Islamist regime for years. The deal gives the rebels positions in the transitional government and extends greater autonomy to territories under their control. The voluntary return of millions of displaced and exiled Sudanese will be encouraged and assisted, and humanitarian aid groups - long-banned from rebel-held regions - will be invited to return. Rebel fighters will be required to lay down their arms or join the ranks of the as-yet unreformed Sudan Armed Forces (their long-time enemy); a provision many suspect will prove unworkable at this time. A final agreement will be signed in Juba on Saturday 3 October.
Abdel Aziz al-Hilu
However, two groups under the SRF umbrella refused to sign. Abdel Wahid al-Nour, who leads a faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army in Darfur, is holding out for a better deal. And while the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army-North (Agar-Arman faction) did sign, the main faction led by Abdel Aziz al-Hilu - which is based in the Nuba Mountains and represents the interests of the Nuba peoples - refused on the grounds that the agreement does not address the 'root causes' of the conflict: Islam and centralisation. As long-time Sudan expert Eric Reeves explains, Abdel Aziz al-Hilu (whom Reeves describes as a man of 'extraordinary integrity, tremendous courage, and the clearest intelligence') is not prepared to see his people, the Nuba, betrayed yet again. For the mostly Christian Nuba, al-Hilu demands that Sudan be secular (the demand that led to the SPLM/A-N split), for the people must have religious freedom.
PM Hamdok meets al-Hilu in Kauda, Nuba Mountains,
South Kordfan, January 2020.
Over 2 to 4 September, PM Hamdok and al-Hilu met in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. On the evening of Thursday 3 September, it was announced that the parties had agreed on the necessity of a full political settlement which addresses the root causes of conflict (Islam and centralisation). The government has agreed 'in principle' to officially separate religion from the state, ending nearly 40 years of Islamic rule in Sudan. The document initialled by the two parties states: 'For Sudan to become a democratic country where the rights of all citizens are enshrined, the constitution should be based on the principle of "separation of religion and state", in the absence of which the right to self-determination must be respected'. Furthermore, the SPLA-N (al-Hilu faction) will be permitted to keep its weapons until 'security arrangements are finalised and religion and state are separated'.
However, as PM Hamdok explains, this 'preliminary agreement' will not be effective until it is approved by 'the relevant institutions'. Unsurprisingly, the proposal to establish Sudan constitutionally as a secular state is hugely controversial. On Friday 4 September, as Nuba in Khartoum exuberantly voiced support for the agreement, Islamists emerged from their mosques to protest against it. It was the eighth consecutive week of Islamic protest against the government's legal reforms [see RLPB 559 (22 July)]. The protesters chanted Islamic slogans, including: 'There is no God but Allah', 'We will not replace the law of God', 'Secularism will not rule us', 'The Qur'an is the constitution'. Islamic protests are expected to escalate against the law reforms and the 'secularism deal'. The stakes could not be higher!
PLEASE PRAY THAT OUR ALMIGHTY GOD WILL
- guide and protect Sudan's PM Abdulla Hamdok, Nuba leader Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, along with all those who are working so bravely and defiantly for political, legal and religious reform in Sudan; may they have all the international recognition and support they deserve; may the LORD be pleased to use them to bring peace and liberty to Sudan.
- break Islam's power over Sudan. The Lord of hosts has sworn: 'As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand ...' (from Isaiah 14:24-27 ESV)
- guide and protect those who lead his people, including pastors, teachers and political figures; may the LORD grant them wisdom, discernment, clarity and courage as they seek to lead the Lord's people though delicate, complex and transformative times.
- draw his people into prayer for peace and liberty in Sudan - things long hoped for, now in view, but not yet realised; may the Sudanese Church grow in faith and number as she puts her trust in the LORD (as distinct from 'man' or politics); and may the global Body of Christ stand with her in this pivotal hour.
* Praise God for the amazing advances being made in Sudan. May the LORD be praised and glorified! May every evil plot be thwarted, and all resistance stilled. May the LORD have mercy!