Sudan (MNN) — Sudan’s army captures more territory in the capital after seizing the presidential palace on Friday. It’s the government’s most significant advance in a two-year war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
“The people seeing their army, the Sudanese armed forces, take back a very symbolic location is very encouraging,” Greg Kelley of Unknown Nations says.
“Hopefully, this is the beginning of a negotiation that brings long-standing peace because Sudan is long overdue for peace.”
Unfortunately, these gains don’t mean the war’s end, as the RSF holds territory in the western Darfur region and elsewhere. Analysts say the war will likely turn into a conflict similar to that of the early 2000s when rebel groups fought the Islamist Sudanese government led by Omar al-Bashir.
“When it’s all said and done, the real victim is the people because these are just two groups fighting for power, and the people are suffering,” Kelley says.
Believers aren’t immune from the ongoing violence. RSF mercenaries recently used the Khartoum Evangelical Church as barracks, looting all the church’s contents.
More than 90 percent of Sudan’s population adheres to Islam. The Christian minority is quick to find in a context like this, and Islamist groups like the RSF “view Christians as easy targets,” Kelley says.
(Screenshot of damaged church obtained via March 24 post on X.)
“They will kill Christians, take over their properties; they’ll take their women, force their children into military service.”
Pray for peace in Sudan. The civil war will be three years old on April 15. Pray that those who need humanitarian aid will secure it quickly.
“[Sudan] is a country of only 50 million people, and more than half of them are dependent upon [outside] aid, or else they are facing death. Famine is widespread right now; there are massive outbreaks of cholera, which is rapidly transmitted through water [and] food,” Kelley says.
“The International Rescue Committee analyzes which countries are most likely to experience new or worsening humanitarian conditions, and Sudan, out of 195 countries, is number one.”
Send the light of God’s Word in audio to Sudan through Unknown Nations.
Header image depicts vehicles in southern Khartoum, Sudan, on April 19, 2023, destroyed amid fighting between Sudan’s regular army and paramilitaries. (Wikimedia Commons)
