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Sudan: Church Leader Abducted by RSF Terrorists

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – As the civil war in Sudan reaches exceedingly catastrophic proportions, a church leader in war-torn Sudan was ambushed and temporarily detained by Rapid Support Forces (RSF) last week, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Wracked by a devastating war over power between Islamic rivals RSF and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) since April 15, 2023, Sudan now ranks eighth on the Open Doors World Watch List 2024 of the top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

On Friday, Apr. 12, Rev. Antar Abbas Abu Hidia, general secretary of the Sudanese Church of Christ (SCOC), was traveling to a denomination assembly in Shendi when he was apprehended and detained by RSF militants who then demanded a ransom for his release, MSN reports. Following protests by the Sudanese church, the pastor was subsequently released at the weekend with no ransom being paid.

“Christians appear to have been targeted amid the military fighting, and a year after war broke out between the RSF and the SAF, there is no sign of resolution,” MSN noted in its report. “Christian sites have been targeted since the conflict began.”

In a current website statement about the situation facing Christians in Sudan, the Open Doors international Christian advocacy organization reports: “The devastating conflict that broke out in April 2023 is threatening to further undermine the positive steps made towards religious freedom following the ousting of [former Islamic dictator] Omar al-Bashir in 2019… More than 165 churches have closed and others have been destroyed. Churches have also reported human rights violations such as rape, kidnap and looting.”