SUDAN: Khartoum bishop recounts traumatic attack by Darfur rebels
Episcopal News Service/Ecumenical News International. May 15, 2008 [051508-06]
Matthew Davies
Bishop Ezekiel Kondo of the Diocese of Khartoum has described last weekend’s ordeal when rebels from the Darfur-based Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) stormed Sudan's capital city on May 10 but were repelled after clashes with Sudanese troops.
Kondo said he heard machine gun fire west of his home in Omdurman and saw people running randomly in panic. "I saw more than 10 pick-up cars full of solders and heavy guns, four of them stationed in front of my house" where the diocesan offices are located, he said. "The rest of cars went ahead [and] then there was continued gun shots. My children and I were on the floor; others joined us from the street. I thought the house was going to fall on us. Our life was in danger, but we were in deep prayer."
Students at an Episcopal Church of the Sudan evening school were injured in the attack, Kondo reported. "Intensified gun shots continued for about three hours. When I got out I could see one of the cars burning in front of the house.
Kondo reported power outages throughout the city and said the government imposed a 22-hour curfew. "Most of the churches in Khartoum could not celebrate Pentecost Day due to the curfew," he said. "I had confirmations in the cathedral that could not proceed" due to security concerns and lack of transportation.
JEM, a rebel group from Darfur, is headed by Khalil Ibrahim, whom Reuters news agency reported as saying: "This is just the start of a process and the end is termination of the regime. Don't expect just one attack."
Sudan, Africa's largest country by area, has been devastated by two back-to-back civil wars spanning some 40 years. The latest 21-year conflict between the southern, non-Arab populations and the northern, Arab-dominated government ended in January 2005 with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
Throughout Sudan's history of independence, the Khartoum-based government has periodically attempted to impose Sharia law nationwide, including punishments such as amputations and stoning.
A conflict in Darfur, a remote region of western Sudan where government-backed militias have carried out a program of ethnic cleansing against Darfuris for the past five years, has claimed at least 300,000 lives and displaced as many as a million people from their homes.
A U.S. ecumenical delegation recently visited Sudan to assess the latest developments in the country's peace process and build partnerships with the nation's four million Episcopalians.
"The tragic and chilling attack in Khartoum is more evidence that the violence and instability created by the Sudanese government, first in the South and now in Darfur, threatens to engulf the entire nation and the broader region of Africa if not properly stemmed," said Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst for the Episcopal Church and a member of the ecumenical delegation that visited Sudan in April.
"Foreign governments, including those who have supported the Khartoum regime, have an urgent responsibility to increase pressure on the Sudanese government to end its sponsorship of violence in Darfur and fully implement the peace agreement with the Southern Sudanese people," said Baumgarten. "Sudan's government must receive a clear signal that it can no longer have a place at the international table unless it ceases its sponsorship of violence and actively works to contain the deep damage that already has been done."
In the weeks since the return of the U.S. delegation, violence also has erupted around oil-producing regions in south Sudan where the presence of troops from the northern government violates the terms of the 2005 peace agreement between the government and the Southern people.
The ecumenical delegation was led by the Episcopal Church, included bishops Francis C. Gray, retired of Northern Indiana, and Victor Scantlebury, assistant of Chicago, as well as bishops from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and staff from both denominations.
Roman Catholic Bishop Antonio Menegazzo, the apostolic administrator of El Obeid diocese which covers Darfur, has said the Khartoum attack signifies a deterioration of the situation in the region, according to Ecumenical News International.
"The situation in Darfur is worsening," Menegazzo told ENI on May 12. "I was already convinced of this, but the conviction has increased after the attempted attack by a group of rebels on Khartoum."
In New York, the U.N. Security Council on May 13 issued a strong condemnation of the attack, but it warned the government in Khartoum not to retaliate against civilians.
Menegazzo said the international response to and humanitarian help for the Darfur crisis were not sufficient.
"Please continue to pray for the whole situation of the Sudan," said Kondo.