The plight of Sudan’s two million Christians has become extremely dire as the brutal civil war between former junta partners Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo grinds on.
Sudan was already one of the worst countries in the world for Christian persecution and neither side in the two-year civil war has demonstrated much concern for their safety.
According to Christian persecution watchdog Open Doors, at least 150,000 Christians have been killed in battles between Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Dagalo’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Up to 15 million more Christians have been driven from their homes, creating the “world’s largest displacement crisis.”
“Neither side is sympathetic to Christians, and the conflict has given Islamist extremists more opportunity to target them,” Open Doors warned.
“Christians are also experiencing exceptional hardship in the hunger crisis because local communities discriminate against them and won’t give them support. Much of the church in Sudan, which might have been able to help with aid distribution, is on the run,” Open Doors added.
Fox News on Sunday spoke with a senior Sudanese church leader who confirmed this grim assessment of the situation.
“When even NGOs (non-governmental organizations) want to distribute food, the category of people who will receive this relief is controlled by government. So, government in these places doesn’t give it to minorities. Often Christians here have been told, ‘Unless you leave your Christianity, no food for you,’” said the church leader, who asked for both his name and location to be withheld out of fear for his safety.
The church leader issued an especially dire warning about Christians in the city of El Fasher, which has been under siege by the RSF since April 2024. The United Nations in August accused the RSF of deliberately targeting civilian residences and refugee camps in the city.
“For a long time now, they’re eating animal feed and grass. No wheat, no rice, nothing can get in. And, unfortunately now, no medicine – if you have just the flu it can kill you,” the Sudanese church leader said.
“We are just always asking God to have mercy on us,” he said, adding that even this comfort may be denied, as Christians are “forbidden even to pray in your home as a group in many places now.”
Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) research analyst Mariam Wahba told Fox News that both the SAF and RSF have brutalized Christians, including arbitrary detentions and the destruction of churches. The RSF is somewhat more brutal, as it has a history of vowing to eliminate Christians through either murder or forced conversion to Islam.
“It’s important to remember that the RSF is the latest incarnation of the Janjaweed militias, infamous for their campaign of ethnic cleansing in Darfur two decades ago. That legacy of terror is now being carried out again,” Wahba said.
The Janjaweed were among the most brutal and reprehensible paramilitary forces in modern history. The group grew out of mercenary forces hired by Libya and Sudan to interfere in neighboring Chad’s civil war in the 1980s. When Sudan became embroiled in its own civil war in the early 1980s, the demand for militia forces willing to handle the most brutal acts of oppression and banditry grew.
The Janjaweed were pioneers of “ethnic cleansing,” working with the tacit support of the Sudanese armed forces, which would use air power to soften up villages – and then look the other way while hordes of mounted Janjaweek killers rode in to wipe the villagers out. Janjaweed attacks had a tendency to leave the area virtually uninhabitable, as they burned crops and poisoned wells to ensure the inhabitants did not return.
The RSF is a direct descendant of the Janjaweed, inheriting many of its personnel and tactics. The RSF has been systematically persecuting Christians with Janjaweed-style attacks since the beginning of the current civil war in 2023. According to human rights groups, RSF fighters also have a habit of sacking churches because they mistakenly believe the churches are hoarding gold and jewels.
A Sky News correspondent found terror, hunger, and “despair” in the refugee camps around El Fasher on Monday. Residents of the camps spoke of “torture, rape, and forced starvation” in “horrifying detail.”
Sky News noted the camps are severely low on food, water, and medicine because the RSF is maintaining a “full blockade” on El Fasher. Not only does the brutal paramilitary force attack anyone bringing supplies to the area, but they have even built an earthen wall around the city, so large that it can be seen from orbit.
According to the refugees, RSF fighters will capture people trying to flee from El Fasher and hold them for ransom. In the highly likely event that their relatives cannot afford the ransom, the prisoners are tortured, raped, and killed. Members of tribal groups that are especially despised by the RSF are subjected to the worst treatment.
“These people killed my children. They killed my in-laws. They orphaned my grandchildren. They killed two of my sons,” an elderly woman told Sky News.
“They raped my two younger daughters in front of me. There is nothing more than that. They fled from shame and humiliation. I haven’t seen them since,” she said.
The director of the refugee camp, Dr. Afaf Isaq, said she was “on the verge of a mental breakdown” from hearing the horrible stories of the people she is trying to help. The doctor herself is a refugee, having fled Khartoum at the beginning of the civil war because her husband joined the RSF.
“I direct my blame to the international community. How can they speak of human rights and ignore what is happening here? Where is the humanity?” she asked.
Christians living in areas controlled by Burhan’s SAF do not fare much better. International Christian Concern (ICC) reported in July that churches in parts of Khartoum controlled by the SAF have been demolished without explanation. Christians have been arrested by Burhan’s officials on flimsy pretexts and detained for “fines” that look suspiciously like ransom payments.
Evangelical Community Council for Sudan chairman Rafat Samir accused Burhan’s government of using the civil war as an opportunity to systematically eliminate churches, and Christianity, from Khartoum. The government will not allow damaged or destroyed churches to be repaired.
“There is a decision issued by the Urban Planning Department not to maintain or rebuild any building affected by the war without a permit, and a very large percentage of our churches are not permitted because the state does not give a permit to any church, no matter how many conditions it meets,” he explained.
Samir, a former Sudanese church leader who now lives in exile and works with Open Doors, said that Christians in Sudan face “multiple layers of persecution,” as they are targeted for both their religion and ethnic backgrounds.
“For a Christian, it’s always been a problem to live in Sudan. Islamic governments since independence have had no tolerance for other religions, tribes, or languages,” he said on Saturday.
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