The Sudanese Minister of Guidance and Religious Endowments has announced that the government will never give new permits for the building of new churches in the country. Sudanese Christian leaders reacted by criticizing the statement.

Minister Shalil Abdullah told the Khartoum-based El Jerida newspaper recently that the existing churches are enough for the Christians remaining in Sudan after the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

He pointed out that South Sudan became an independent country where the majority of its people are Christians, while the number of Christians in Sudan is small.

Reacting to the news, Rev. Kori El Ramli, the Secretary-General of Sudan Council of Churches told Radio Tamazuj on Thursday the statement made by the minister contradicts the country’s constitution.

“Yes, we are a minority, but we have freedom of worship and belief just like the rest of the Sudanese as long as we are Sudanese nationals like them,” he explained.

The pastor also criticized the demolotion of a church a suburb of Khartoum North by local authorities recently.

On 1 July, Sudanese authorities bulldozed the Sudanese Christ Church at El Izba residential area (Tayibat El Ahamda) block 19 in Khartoum North.

For his part, Kuwa Shamal Kuku, the bishop of the demolished church, expressed his discontent about the move, saying the church was destroyed completely by the government under the pretext of protecting the land.

The priest told Radio Tamazuj yesterday that the bulldozed church was built in 1983.

File photo: A church demolition in Khartoum

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