A raft of amendments to Sudan’s Constitution adopted by the country’s transition government omits mention of Islam as a defining characteristic of the state.
This is a major win for Christians in the country who have had to endure years of oppression under the previous administration of Omar Al Bashir. Sudan’s Christians suffered decades of persecution under the regime of General Bashir, but the history of persecution goes back 30 years when the country became an
Islamic State.
Sudan emerged from international isolation that began soon after Bashir seized power in 1989 and implemented a hard-line interpretation of Islamic law that sought to make the country the “vanguard of the Islamic world.” Al-Qaeda settled there and the U.S. designated Sudan a terror sponsor in 1993.
In his 29 years of rule, Al-Bashir created loyalist militias to protect his rule and built a political machine of businessmen and politicians that held a lock on power and amassed massive wealth. A brief detail of the history of the arabization of the country which resulted in the Since President Omar al-Bashir was ousted in April 2019, there had been uncertainty about the leadership of Sudan and how it would impact Christians.
Until recently, In areas like the Nuba Mountains, there had an ongoing conflict and tension between government forces and rebel groups. Since 2011, thousands of Christians have been killed in these attacks, which many believe to be effectively ethnic cleansing of minority ethnic groups, particularly Christians. Elsewhere in the country, Christians from a Muslim background are most vulnerable.
The new peace declaration agreement establishes a national commission for religious freedom, which guarantees the rights of Christian communities in Sudan’s southern regions. Sudan’s population of 45 million is roughly 91 percent Muslim and 6 percent Christian and until recently it had been very challenging for Christians to spread the word of God.
