For the past couple of years, since the 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended the decades-long civil war, north and south Sudan have lived at relative peace with one another. That is not to say that the nation has been peaceful; the genocide in Darfur is ongoing, and in the north/south border areas Islamic militias work regular acts of violence, but there has been no all-out, large-scale violence.
But the more news I hear out of Sudan, and specifically out of South Kordofan - the north/south border state that I have visited twice - the more worried I am. I say “worried,” but that word isn’t strong enough. I’m scared. Scared for the people I know there, for the pastors that are already the targets of localized violence, for the ongoing work of Christ throughout the Nuba tribes, for the existing widows and the widows-to-be, for the generation of children that are only now barely becoming accustomed to peace.
There can be a lot of things that go into the rekindling of a civil war. Political strife, religious disagreement, interpersonal quarrels, even tribal feuding that goes back centuries are all present in this state. The Nuba tribespeople feel abandoned, not just by their central government, but by the southern SPLM, who they feel have used them as a bargaining chip in an attempt to control oil-rich territories in the east. Even within the Nuba, individual tribes fight with each other constantly, the ongoing expression of centuries of infighting. And always, sometimes just under the surface, sometimes above, but always there, is the inevitable tension between Sharia and freedom of religion, between NCP and SPLM - between Muslim and Christian.
Last time I was in South Kordofan, our team met with the deputy governor, a soft-spoken Christian man affiliated with the SPLM. (Under the peace agreement, power in South Kordofan is split between the Muslim NCP governor and the Christian SPLM deputy governor.) We talked about our desire to minister there in a variety of ways, and were blessed by his spirit. Little did we know - in fact, I didn’t know until reading a report last week - that just months before we were there, he had been the target of an assassination attempt. His story highlights the nature of the situation in Sudan, because the assassination attempt was not a sniper with a gun, or even a grenade lobbed into a car. No, the would-be assassin handed a grenade to a child and told the youngster to take it up to the stage. The ensuing explosion, while it didn’t kill the deputy governor, ripped the child’s hand to shreds.
South Kordofan just may be the spark that reignites the smoldering memories of all-out war. Some are even calling it “The Next Darfur,” but unlike that tragedy, this one has the potential to plunge the entire nation into violence.
Pray for Sudan.
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Rising Animosity in Central State Could Fuel Conflict
And if you have more time, read the following report. It’s long, but well worth the read.
Sudan’s Southern Kordofan Problem: The Next Darfur?
