Sudan: Ban on the construction of new churches
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala.
The Sudanese government announced at the beginning of July blocking permits for the construction of new churches in the country. “The legal situation for Christians in Sudan is really worrisome,” asserted Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, bishop of the south-Sudanese diocese of Tambura-Yambio, during a visit to the headquarters of the Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The prelate declared to the Fides News Agency on July 14th of this year that “Christians were considered and treated like second class citizens. Members of the clergy can no longer obtain passports and when they leave the country, they never know if they will be able to return. Numerous priests have been expelled and bishops are constrained to silence because they cannot freely express their own opinions.”
The Christian community in Sudan was strongly reduced following the secession of South Sudan in July 2011, from where the majority of Christians come who were living at Khartoum.
(Sources : apic/fides – DICI no.299 dated August 1, 2014)
