The recent kidnapping of two church leaders is one of several incidents causing concern for Christians in Sudan.Attackers seized Rev Joseph Makwey and Rev Sylvester Mogga at gunpoint on January 15 after ram-raiding their church compound in Rabak, south of Khartoum, with a truck. A ransom demand has since been issued by suspected South Sudanese militia loyal to Sudan's Islamic Government. Local Christians are reported to be badly shaken by the attack.
But this militia threat is not the only worry for Christians in this mainly Arab and Muslim nation where Christianity is now widely regarded as a 'foreign' religion since the secession of South Sudan last July.
Police in Khartoum beat and arrested church leader and evangelist James Kat of the Evangelical Church of Sudan on January 17, apparently because he was using the church site as his home. He was released on bail the same day. Also, security agencies in the city have ordered Christians not to organise Bible exhibitions – an annual tradition for some churches.
Meanwhile, a letter from government officials to the Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church threatened to arrest pastors carrying out evangelism or refusing to provide church leaders' names and contact details. (Release Int.)
