WAR INTENSIFIES IN SUDAN

Volume 1 1996

During his recent mission outreach to Sudan and Rwanda, Peter held 42 research interviews, visited 3 orphanages, 4 hospitals, 2 clinics, 2 mission stations, 3 theological colleges and numerous churches. The trip involved 11 flights, thousands of kilometres driving (and a fair bit of walking as well) in 4 countries - Kenya, Sudan, Rwanda, and Uganda. By God’s grace, he was able to deliver and distribute 690 Bibles and 1000 Gospel booklets, hymn books and prayer books in Nuer, Dinka, Toposa, Murle and Nuba to Christians in Sudan and in Kinyrwanda to prisoners, soldiers and orphans in Rwanda. This is what he reports:

There were certainly enough opportunities for me to re examine my motives and question whether God had called me to go to Sudan. Firstly, Nairobi, in neighbouring Kenya, is a tourist trap awash with NGO’s (Non - Governmental Organizations) involved with the relief aid industry. Bureaucratic red tape, corruption, wastage and all the other hallmarks of the UN and its ancillaries are enough to make the most idealistic person somewhat cynical.

Some of the work being done by the NGO’s is truly impressive. For example, the World Food Programme has some very skilled ex-Air Force pilots who carry out air drops from the huge C130 airtransports. lnjust 3 runs they can drop 18 tonnes of maize from 300 feet. Triple bagged and secured to wooden pallets, these relief supplies all land within 180 metres of the X marker.

However, such technical precision is seldom accompanied by personal contact or spiritual ministry on the ground. Nor is it any secret as to why the relief is done by air and with great haste.

When I first made inquiries as to road access to Southern Sudan, there was much suprise. Several relief columns had been ambushed by bandits. It has been a standard tactic of the Government of Sudan (GOS) to arm dissident groups and encourage bandits to destabilise the South. Several Catholic relief workers had recently been killed on the very road we needed to drive in on. As it was, it took us 8 hours just to drive 120 km over very bad roads.

One of the towns we were visiting had been frequently bombed by GOS aircraft. The Charter company that was to fly us out requested an early departure as the GOS were expected to begin bombing after 11 a.m. When I asked how they could be so definite as to the time, the pilot replied that the GOS were very predictable - “they never bomb before tea time.” Our pilot also mentioned the danger of surface to air missiles and ground fire during flight. “We’ve also been shot at by GOS aircraft during unauthorized incursions but ground fire has been more common.” Even the airstrip in northern Kenya, used by relief agencies, had been bombed on occasions by the GOS. In addition, we were warned to beware of the many GOS spies infesting Nairobi and Lokichoggio.

Nor was the Government of Sudan our only obstacle to ministry in Southern Sudan. The United Nations, which co-ordinates Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS) under which all NGO’s, relief agencies and missions need to work, has a serious bias against the Bible. While we were there, the UN banned all New Sudan Council of Churches relief flights because one of their ministers attempted to take on board a box of Communion wafers for the Eucharist / Lord’s Supper celebrations for churches in Sudan! Yet that same flight took in beer and wine for OLS workers. ACROSS (the main Christian relief agency) had also been slapped with a suspension of their flights for attempting to take Bibles into Sudan.

Other missionaries complained of UN interference forbidding them to take in crosses, Sunday School pictures and other religious materials. One missionary couple reported how UN officials had forbidden the showing of the Jesus film in Nuer at Ulang. The SPLA (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army) Commander insisted on the Jesus film being screened to his people - despite the protests of the UN. The same couple remarked at how inconsistent the UN’s position on religion was. In Cambodia, the UN had erected a Buddhist Temple for the refugees (because “that is their religion"). Yet in Southern Sudan they discriminate against the Christian faith of the population. As one pastor put it: “It’s not that the UN is against religion, they’re just against Christianity.”

During one visit to the Red Cross (ICRC) headquarters in Lokichoggio, Northern Kenya, we found a senior Red Cross official most agitated. The UN had just refused them permission to medevac (medical evacuation by air) 23 war wounded civilians from Ganyiel. In blatant disregard for the Geneva Convention, the Muslim Government of Sudan (GOS) had refused permission for the flight (without any reason given) and so the UN would not allow the Red Cross to save these casualties. Considering that it was the GOS who had bombed them in the first place, it seemed somewhat ridiculous to ask their permission to treat those casualties which they had failed to kill.

At the ICRC hospital outside of Lokichoggio, I was shocked at the large number of people who had lost limbs. I assumed that these were from landmines but the medical staff informed me that they seldom received any landmine casualties. In fact, all those who had lost limbs in the hospital were gunshot wounds. I was amazed and asked how so many people could have lost legs and arms to gunshot wounds. They then explained that the long distances and the need to first obtain UN / GOS permission before medevacs meant that by the time the patient arrived for surgery all they could normally do was cut off the infected limb!

The ICRC hospital at Lokichcggio, with 550 beds, is the main hospital for war wounded from Southern Sudan. Patients come from every part of the South and are therefore separated from their families and communities. There is no other functioning hospital in the South. The only laboratory or X-ray facilities for the 6 to 8 million people of Southern Sudan is in that one hospital. There is a desperate need for medical volunteers to work at the hospital and for a chaplaincy ministry to provide Gospel literature, Christian films, services and counselling to these needy patients.

Our mission trip to Southern Sudan coincided with a major escalation in the 40 year civil war. The Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) had siezed the initiative by launching a series of strategic assaults in Southern Sudan. As a result of these bold new thrusts, serious casualties and defeats had been inflicted upon the Government of Sudan’s Islamic forces. Several tanks, artillery pieces and rocket launchers were captured and many towns liberated from the Islamic occupying forces.

Most of the Sudanese border with Uganda was seized from the GOS forces. The GOS supported “Lord’s Resistance Army” in Uganda suffered a crippling blow at the hands of the SPLA with hundreds captured and the rest scattered. The supply lines to the SPLA from Uganda were thus secured. Then the SPLA renewed their assault on Juba (the Capital of the South) and predicted its fall within the next, few months. The Muslim Government of Sudan was threatening war with Uganda and Eritrea whom they accused of supporting the SPLA. Thousands of GOS troops were being flown into Juba to reinforce the besieged garrison there. And the bombing of civilian towns in Southern Sudan was intensified.

Good rains throughout the South had resulted in the best harvest in years. Along with renewed relief efforts, this meant that few were starving in Southern Sudan at that time. Accordingly, the SPLA had been able to seize the strategic initiative and regain much of the ground lost to the GOS forces over recent years. Over 90% of South Sudan was now firmly in the hands of the rebels. The Government of Sudan’s Muslim army was confined to a few besieged garrison towns such as Juba, Kapoeta, Yei and Torit. These were in danger of being overrun by the latest SPLA offensive.

From my contacts with the SPLA it seemed that their morale was extremely high. They could be heard marching or running whilst singing Christian hymns at 5:30 am every morning. Ongoing training was of a very high standard. Discipline was evident and their determination to win was exceptional. Some were asserting that the tide of war had at last turned in favour of the Christian forces.

That may have been too optimistic. Even if the SPLA retook any of the major towns, could they hold them? Without an airforce and without adequate defences against air attacks any town taken would be subjected to severe bombardment.

One SPLA Commander apologised to us that they could not guarantee our protection from GOS air attacks. “We only have some 14.5mm, 12.7mm, and 23mm anti-aircraft guns. We have no more shoulder launched ‘Red Eye’ missiles. The Arabs know this so their bombers fly high - out of range - when they drop their bombs on us.”

Nevertheless, the GOS forces have failed to achieve much more than a token presence - at great cost - in a few besieged garrison towns. In the opinion of some military attache’s I spoke to, the war is an unwinnable one for the GOS forces. The harsh terrain, vast swamps, wide rivers, dense vegetation and rolling hills of the South is ideal terrain for unconventional forces/insurgents. The local population are uncompromisingly opposed to the Arabisation and lslamisation policies of Khartoum. The war is financially crippling the already impoverished, heavily indebted Arab North. The war is unpopular with most of the GOS forces who seem to lack both the means and the will to win.

By way of contrast, the Black Christians of the South are highly motivated and determined to win. It would also seem that the South is beginning to receive some material support from Eritrea and Uganda. There was also speculation that Egypt may be assisting the SPLA forces in some way. The Khartoum regime has certainly made a lot of enemies amongst its neighbours.

Our mission team defied the UN /GOS ban on Bibles and successfully delivered over a thousand Bibles, Gospel booklets and hymn books, to remote congregations and military units in Southern Sudan. The enthusiastic response of the people of Southern Sudan was an eloquent testimony to their love for life and liberty. And a clear rejection of UN / GOS policy.

PETER HAMMOND

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