Conger

A Sudanese court has returned an office and guest house in Khartoum to the Episcopal Church of the Sudan four years after armed police seized the property.

On April 20, the Sudanese provincial secretary the Rev. Enock Tombe reported a successful outcome to court proceedings that arose after armed police seized the church’s Khartoum office. On May 20, 2004 police evicted the church from the buildings at the behest of the Sudanese Arab United Al Azra Company, which claimed it had purchased the building in good faith from the former Bishop of Rumbek, Gabriel Roric Jur.

In 2003, Archbishop Joseph Marona deposed Bishop Roric Jur when he refused to return to his see after a ten year absence. Considered a turncoat by his colleagues, Bishop Roric Jur joined the National Islamic Front government in Khartoum, serving as its deputy foreign minister.

He refused to accept the sentence and responded by creating a rival church with the backing of the Khartoum government. Sudanese law requires Christian churches to hold property in the name of a trustee rather than in the name of the institution. Bishop Roric Jur originally acted as trustee on behalf of the ECS when the property was purchased—and once he was defrocked sold the building and kept the proceeds for his new Reformed Episcopal Church of the Sudan.

The President of Southern Sudan has challenged the new Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of Juba, to help his government unify the country in the wake of the decades old civil war with the Islamist government in Khartoum.

In a speech delivered at the enthronement ceremony held April 20 at All Saints Cathedral in Juba, President Salva Kiir Mayardit called upon the church to embark on a campaign of school and hospital building, and to help the government establish social services for the war torn country.

The former leader of the military wing of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), who also serves as Vice-President of the Sudan, President Kiir also urged the church to back plans for the first comprehensive census of the Sudan since Anglo-Egyptian colonial rule.

A component of the 2005 peace treaty that ended hostilities between the Arab-Muslim North and Christian/Animist African South, the census will help allocate seats in the national legislature and revenue from Sudan’s oilfields.

Scheduled to begin on April 22, the census has been delayed three times. Khartoum has balked at including questions on ethnicity and religion in the census. Last week South Sudan Information Minister Gabriel Changson Chang said that without information on race and religion the results “should not be used to determine the borders, the [2009 independence] referendum or to determine the wealth or power sharing, or to determine the cultural identity of the country.”

However President Kiir told the cathedral congregation that the Khartoum government had agreed to address issues of ethnicity and race separately soon after the census was concluded on May 6.

In his address, Archbishop Deng asked the South Sudanese president to use his efforts to resolve the Abyei border dispute, which left the provinces of Abyei, the Blue Nile and Nuba Mountains under the administration of North Sudan, while being ethnically and religiously part of South Sudan.

He also pressed President Kiir to help halt the expropriation of church property by the Khartoum government. In recent months it had expropriated Roman Catholic properties in Khartoum, a church in El Obeid and had tried to seize the diocesan offices in Omdurman.

“The government of national unity has also ventured to confiscate the Christians cemetery [in Khartoum] and distribute it for commercial purpose. What kind of human being could do such a thing?”, he said according to an account printed in the Sudan Tribune.

Joined by 22 diocesan and 3 suffragan bishops, the Primate of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini led the service for Archbishop Deng, telling the congregation that God had raised up a leader to guide the Church in a new era of independence and prosperity.

Published in The Church of England Newspaper

The Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul and his wife, Deborah Bul following his election as primate of the Sudan on Feb 14 in Juba. Photo first published in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has moved into Kajo Keji county in Southern Sudan, the Episcopal Church of the Sudan reports, sparking an exodus of civilians and fears the Ugandan civil war will spread north into the Sudan.

(LRA leader Joseph Kony, pictured)

On Jan 30 a battalion of LRA soldiers raided villages 75 miles south of Southern Sudan’s capital of Juba abducting 40 people, and killing four, according to a report released by an assessment team from the Diocese of Kajo Keji, the Danish Refugee Council and the government of South Sudan.

“The entire population is filled with panic and helplessness,” the report said. “They have lost all basic possessions such as household utensils, beddings, and clothing. People congregate together for fear and lack of protection. Many express intentions to cross to neighbouring counties.”

Church and aid leaders have urged the South Sudanese army to repel the invaders, and asked the international community to pressure the LRA to sign a peace agreement with Uganda, ending the 22-year war.

The LRA has denied involvement in the attacks. “We do not have any forces in that area,” LRA chief negotiator David Matsanga said according to a report published by the IRIN news service.

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s observation that some form of Sharia law in Britain “seems unavoidable” has drawn mixed reactions overseas. Muslim leaders have welcomed Dr. Williams’ comments and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland has come to his defence in the ensuing row.

However, Western religious, political and social commentators—and film stars—have been less than enthusiastic in their responses.

Australia’s Attorney-General Robert McClelland told reporters the government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd “is not considering and will not consider the introduction of any part of Sharia law into the Australian legal system.”

The Diocese of Sydney was equally firm. Diocesan spokesman Bishop Robert Forsyth of South Sidney said: “We do not agree with the archbishop’s comments.”

“In the case of Australia, we are thankful for freedom of religion but would oppose the idea of different systems of law for different people groups,” Bishop Forsyth said in a statement.

The Times of India called Dr. Williams comments “nonsense concocted in cloud cuckoo land.” Allowing British Muslims to have “marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court rather than the ones patronized by white English Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Bulldog” would be a social disaster it said.

It noted former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had “agreed to orthodox Muslim demands for the protection of [Sharia] Law” in marital disputes, as Dr. Williams’ had suggested. The result had led to Muslim women being denied the right to alimony in divorce cases.

Church leaders in Nigeria and the Sudan were equally perturbed by the consequences of the speech. One Sudanese church leader told The Church of England Newspaper Dr. Williams appeared to have conceded one of the principle disputes that had led to the decades old war between Christians and Muslims in the Sudan.

In an interview with the BBC, the Archbishop of Jos in Northern Nigeria, Ben Kwashi said he was “shocked. I am disappointed. I am in total disbelief.”

Dr. Williams’ comments would have major ramifications in Nigeria, he said. “If the Christians are the ones asking for Sharia Law, now that will be used against us who are saying that we do not think Sharia law will help the cause of freedom and the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Northern Nigeria.”

Populist American radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, whose 3 hour radio show draws over 20 million listeners, denounced Dr. Williams’ remarks, saying “This is what you get when you have unchecked, unbridled liberalism. By the way, this is liberalism disguised as an archbishop, as a religious figure. Liberals will give away the culture and the freedom of western democracies.”

Across the intellectual spectrum, Roger Kimball, the editor of the highbrow intellectual journal the New Criterion, called Dr. Williams a “civilization Quisling.” Unlike his predecessor Thomas a Becket who “faithfully served his church and was savagely punished for it, Rowan Williams loses no opportunity to besmirch his Church and is lavishly praised for his perfidy.”

Dr. Williams’ lecture was also a topic of conversation at the Berlin film festival last week. Actor Daniel Day-Lewis told reporters on Friday “the Archbishop of Canterbury has been getting it from all sides today,” but had “made a big mistake.”

However, the Moderator of the Church of Scotland has defended the archbishop. The Rt. Rev. Sheilagh Kesting wrote Dr. Williams on Friday saying she was “appalled by the way the response to your lecture has become a personal witch-hunt calling for your resignation.”

The Al-Azhar in Cairo—the Anglican Communion’s dialogue partner with Islam—on Saturday welcomed Dr. Williams’ remarks. Sheikh Abdel Fattah Allam told the Egyptian news agency MENA the introduction of Sharia law in Britain was a “move in the right direction and will have a positive impact in Muslim countries.”

Dr. Williams’ comments would be well received, he said, as they “encouraged dialogue between cultures and civilizations in a framework of mutual respect of religions.”

Mohammad Hashim Kamali, professor of law at the International Islamic University of Malaysia, told Al Jazeera television the Archbishop’s suggestion that Muslims be allowed their own courts was a “good start” and would “not have any harmful consequences” for Britain.

Sharia law “is part of the Islamic identity, especially for the Islamic minority communities” in the West, he said.

“It is a recognition of the demand we have been experiencing in recent decades,” Dr. Kamali said. “The fact that there is a response by a credible religious figure is welcome news.”

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has upheld a complaint against the Save Darfur Campaign lodged by a pro-Khartoum lobbying group, which had objected to the coalition of celebrities, church groups, and other civil society organizations’ campaign to raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in the western Sudan.

On Aug 8 the ASA upheld a complaint of false or misleading advertising made by the European Sudanese Public Affairs Council (ESPAC) against the Save Darfur Campaign. ESPAC objected to an ad published in the British press which claimed: “SLAUGHTER IS HAPPENING IN DARFUR. YOU CAN HELP END IT. In 2003, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir moved to crush opposition by unleashing vicious armed militias to slaughter entire villages of his own citizens. After three years, 400,000 innocent men, women and children have been killed … “.

The ASA ruled the Save Darfur Coalition had breached the advertising code of conduct presenting as fact, what was actually opinion.

“Although the claim appeared in a strongly worded campaigning ad” and the Save Darfur campaigners “were entitled to express their opinion about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur in strong terms, we concluded that there was a division of informed opinion about the accuracy of the figure contained in the ad and it should not have been presented in such a definitive way,” the ASA said.

In support of its contention that 400,000 had died in Darfur, the Coalition citied a mortality study prepared by the Coalition for International Justice in April 2005 and an article in the journal Science which said the 400,000 claim was “within the realms of possibility.”

ESPAC countered by arguing that a study by the World Health Organisation (WHO) affiliated Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) recorded 120,000 deaths in the conflict. ESPAC also argued that since 2006 the number of excess deaths in Darfur had fallen below emergency levels, citing the WHO’s Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Bulletin.

The ESPAC argued that the Save Darfur Coalition’s advertisements were based on bad data, and were seeking to publicize a “slaughter” sponsored by the Khartoum government of the inhabitants of Western Sudan, when WHO figures reported the number of deaths had fallen below emergency levels.

The Save Darfur Coalition said it accepted the ruling — which said it should have made it clear that 400,000 was an estimate of deaths, rather than a fact. But it stood by its figures saying they reflected the true scale of the slaughter.

“History tells us that the size of genocides are rarely understood contemporarily,” it said in a statement.

“The government of Sudan is actively obstructing any accurate verification at this time and the international community must continue to pressure President Omar al-Bashir to provide access to international peacekeepers and humanitarian workers who can more accurately document the scale of this genocide,” the Coalition said.

The Sudanese government claims only 9,000 people have died since fighting began in 2003.

The Primate of Sudan, Archbishop Joseph Marona has traveled to Kampala to seek medical treatment and is seriously ill, the Church of England Newspaper has learned. The Sudanese Church’s commissaries in the US and Britain are currently raising money to provide medical treatment in Kampala, while the Bishop of Salisbury is working on bringing him to London for treatment at St Luke’s Hospital for the Clergy.

Elected Archbishop of Sudan in 1998 following the death of his predecessor in an automobile accident, Archbishop Marona has overseen the regeneration of the Sudanese Church following twenty years of civil war.

Born in 1941, Archbishop Marona trained as an Arabic language primary school teacher. While in exile in Uganda from 1966 to 1973 he studied at Makerere University earning diplomas in education and history. Following the 1973 peace accords he returned to the Sudan and served as a school headmaster until his ordination in 1982. Elected Bishop of Maridi in 1984 he was translated to Juba upon his election as Archbishop in 1998.

In January, Archbishop Marona announced he would retire from office two years ahead of schedule due to illness. Sickness prevented him from attending the February primates meeting in Dar es Salaam also.

The Episcopal Church of the Sudan has urged its government not to delay the November 2007 census of the country. Canon Joanna Udal, Assistant to Archbishop Joseph Marona told The Church of England Newspaper the census was “an essential element in preparing the way for the elections and referendum provided for by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)” in the decades long Sudanese civil war.

The census would provide a benchmark for distributing the Sudan’s natural resource wealth and apportioning political power, Canon Udal said, and was a key plank of the CPA signed in 2005 between the government in Khartoum and the Southern Sudanese authorities. The results of the census will recalibrate ratios for power and wealth sharing and are a prerequisite for nationwide elections planned for 2009 and an eventual referendum on self-determination in 2011.

Read it all in The Church of England Newspaper.

The Episcopal Church of the Sudan reports police attacked worshipers on New Year’s Eve, firing tear gas grenades inside All Saints’ Cathedral in Khartoum.

The Rev. Sylvester Thomas reported that 20 minutes after the Sunday service started, nine gas bombs were shot into the crowd of about 500 worshipers. In the ensuing melee, several members of the congregation were beaten by baton-welding policemen as they fled the building, Canon Thomas told the AFP news service. Six people were reported to have been hospitalized after the assault.

Read it all in The Living Church

Ten months after armed police seized the headquarters of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS), church leaders were shocked to discover at a court hearing on March 15 that the current occupants of the complex, the Sudanese Arab United Al Azra Company, had begun renovations on the property. The company claimed it had purchased the building in good faith from the Rt. Rev. Gabriel Roric Jur, Bishop of Rumbek.

On May 20, 2004, heavily armed riot police surrounded the complex and entered ECS offices in Khartoum to demand the immediate eviction of personnel. ECS staff complied, leaving behind everything that could not be collected and carried out by hand within 15 minutes. Archbishop Joseph Marona protested to Sudanese President General Omar el-Bashir on May 24 that the seizure was “part of a systematic attempt to undermine the work of the Church,” and Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold added his voice to the chorus of protest condemning the raid and seizure.

About two years ago, Bishop Roric Jur announced the formation of a rival Reformed Episcopal Church of the Sudan and declared himself archbishop. Considered a “renegade” by many Christians for his service to the Muslim-backed Khartoum government, Bishop Roric Jur served as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sudan and is presently the chairman of the government’s Inter-religious Dialogue Commission.

Three years ago, the General Synod of the Sudan changed the Church’s canons, requiring a bishop to be resident in his diocese. If a bishop were absent for more than six months, the see would be declared vacant. On May 31, 2003, Archbishop Marona deposed Bishop Roric Jur from office when he refused to return to Rumbek after an absence of 10 years.

Bishop Roric Jur refused to accept the sentence and responded by creating a rival church with the backing of the Khartoum government which recognized Bishop Roric as “Archbishop of ECS” and is employing “all the organs of state to collaborate with [Bishop] Roric’s efforts to undermine the Church’s activities,” according to the Rev. Enock Tombe, the ECS Provincial Secretary.

Sudanese law requires Christian churches to hold property in the name of a trustee rather than in the name of the institution. Mr. Tombe stated, “The property was originally bought in the name of Gabriel Roric Jur as trustee on behalf of the ECS.” Bishop Roric Jur, the Church has since learned “sold the building while masquerading as the Archbishop of ECS.”

Read it all in The Living Church.

Armed police seized the offices of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan in a move observers say was designed to split the Church, with the aim of creating a rump group loyal to the Khartoum government.

The Rev Enock Tombe, the Provincial Secretary of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS), reports that on Thursday May 20, police entered the Church’s offices in Khartoum and “ordered the eviction of ECS personnel and properties from the building.”

“Staff were warned that if the order was not complied with, force would be used to ensure compliance,” Mr Tombe writes, as “armed riot police were positioned at the gate for this purpose.” Workmen brought by the police then emptied the buildings of their contents loading them onto trucks.

The Rt Rev Daniel Deng Bul, Bishop of Renk, who witnessed the raid, reports that he and the other members of the Church staff were unharmed as he told them not to resist. Bishop Deng and church staffers have taken refuge at All Saints Cathedral in Khartoum.

In a letter delivered to Sudanese President General Omar el-Bashir on May 24, Archbishop Joseph Marona protested that the seizure was “part of a systematic attempt to undermine the work of the Church”.

He accused the government of perverting the rule of law and targeting Christians for persecution as “this event serves to highlight the vulnerability of Christians in Northern Sudan under Sudanese Sharia law.”

The Bishop of Khartoum, the Rt Rev Ezekiel Kondo, stated that a police major who led the raid told him “the former bishop of Rumbek, Gabriel Roric Jur, has sold the building to someone else and the court has issued order of eviction to this effect.”

“We suspect that the government might be behind Roric to do this to put the ECS into a difficult position” Bishop Kondo added.

In December 2003, the former Bishop of Rumbek announced the formation of a rival Episcopal Church of the Sudan and declared himself Archbishop. Considered a “renegade” by many Christians for his service to the National Islamic Front (NIF) government, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister of the Sudan and is presently the chairman of the government’s Inter-religious Dialogue Commission.

On Sep 5, 2002, the General Synod of the Sudan changed the Church’s canons, requiring a bishop to be resident in his diocese. If a bishop were absent for more than six months, the see would be declared vacant. On May 31, 2003, Archbishop Marona deposed Bishop Roric from office when he refused to return to Rumbek after an absence of 10 years.

Bishop Roric refused to accept the sentence and responded by creating a rival Church with the backing of elements of the NIF government.

The Provincial Secretary, Mr Tombe, states Khartoum has recognised Bishop Roric as “Archbishop of ECS” and continues through all the organs of state to collaborate with Roric’s efforts to undermine the Church’s activities”.

Sudanese law requires Churches to hold property in the name of a trustee, rather than in the name of the institution. Mr Tombe stated, “The property was originally bought in the name of Gabriel Roric as trustee on behalf of the ECS.”

Bishop Roric,the Church has since learned “sold the building” he explained, “while masquerading as the Archbishop of ECS”.

This is the second time the Episcopal Church in Sudan has been divided. In 1987,wrangles over succession between the late Archbishops Elinana Galamu and Benjamina Yugusuk divided the Church and was only resolved in 1992 following the intervention of Archbishop George Carey who reconciled the two groups.