Sudan: Churches No Longer Safe Havens as Jihadist Violence Targets Persecuted Christians

Photo: Mandenya Samuel Francis, Creative Commons. | Jihad Watch

The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have long been associated with elements linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement whose offshoots include groups such as Hamas. The October 7 attacks once again highlighted the violent capabilities of such organizations. While the Muslim Brotherhood's influence in Western countries is comparatively limited, its networks remain active and organized. Critics argue that Western policymakers should pay closer attention to both the movement's ideological roots and the historical experiences of religious minorities living under Islamist rule.

One Christian survivor later reflected on a dramatic incident, saying, “Thank God the car wouldn’t start, and they couldn’t take the orphan girls.” For those sheltering inside the church, the malfunctioning vehicle was seen as a providential intervention that prevented a potentially tragic outcome.

Across several conflict-ridden regions of Africa, Christian communities frequently find themselves caught between armed factions and extremist violence. Their suffering often receives little international attention amid broader coverage of civil wars and humanitarian crises.

When fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023, Sefain Nagy sought refuge at St. George Coptic Orthodox Church in the Masalma district of Omdurman, a city in east-central Sudan.

Nagy was joined by at least 25 other Christians, including 15 orphaned girls between the ages of 10 and 25 who were already residing at the church, several middle-aged women, and six elderly men. Each night, the group gathered in the church sanctuary to pray and sing hymns while enduring the uncertainty of war. Food and clean drinking water were scarce, but local Christian volunteers managed to arrange affordable meals from community kitchens, known as takkiyas, despite the constant danger posed by shelling and armed clashes.

Approximately one month later, at around 10:30 p.m., the fragile sense of safety was shattered. Nagy heard a vehicle arrive carrying five members of the RSF paramilitary force. The armed men reportedly fired at the church walls, broke through the front entrance, and stormed the building.

“They asked us, ‘What are you here for?’” Nagy later recalled. “I told them we had prayer. We were praying.”

According to Nagy, the RSF fighters assaulted those inside, seized jewelry from the women, and attempted to take away the orphaned girls. When he tried to block their access to the girls’ quarters and prevent them from leaving with the young women, one of the gunmen struck him on the head with a rifle and shot him in the right leg.

The attackers then attempted to flee with the girls using a vehicle parked at the church. However, in a turn of events that many survivors viewed as miraculous, the engine failed to start, preventing the abduction and allowing the girls to remain at the church.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)