03/20/2012 Sudan (CDN)-The “ethnic cleansing” that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has undertaken against black Africans in the Nuba Mountains is also aimed at ridding the area of Christianity, according to humanitarian workers. By targeting Christians among people who are also adherents of Islam and other faiths in the Nuba Mountains, military force helps the regime in Khartoum to portray the violence as “jihad” to Muslims abroad and thus raise support from Islamic nations, said one humanitarian worker on condition of anonymity.
In South Kordofan state – which lies on Sudan’s border with the newly created nation of South Sudan but is home to sympathizers of the southern military that fought against northern forces during Sudan’s long civil war – Bashir’s military strikes are directed at Muslims as well as Christians, but churches and Christians are especially targeted, he said.
“The ongoing war against Christians and African indigenous people is more of an ‘ethnic cleansing’ in that they kill all black people, including Muslims, but they give specific connotation to the war in targeting Christians to securefunding and support from the Arab and Islamic world by saying this war is a religious war,” he said. “And in so doing, they get huge support from those countries.”
Aerial bombardment killed the five members of the Asaja Dalami Kuku family, which belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, in Umsirdipa in the Nuba Mountains on Feb. 25, the source said. The government in Khartoum is using Antonov airplanes to drop bombs, “coupled with state- sponsored militia targeting churches and Christian families,” said the humanitarian worker.
“The brutal state-sponsored militias are moving from house to house searching for Christian and African indigenous homes as the government continues with air strikes,” he added. TheSatellite Sentinel Project has gathered evidence that Antonov aircraft have indiscriminately bombed civilian populations in South Kordofan, although after a recent crash the government has said it will no longer use the planes.
In Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, at least four church buildings have been razed and more than 20 Christians killed, he said.
“The Islamic north sees Nuba Christians as infidels who need to be Islamized through Jihad,” the source said. “But the fact of the matter is this war is ethnic cleansing – a religious as well as political war, indeed a complex situation.”
Between June 2011 and March 2012, four church buildings have been destroyed, said another humanitarian worker; they belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, theRoman Catholic Church, the Sudanese Church of Christ and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church(Continue reading).
In South Kordofan state – which lies on Sudan’s border with the newly created nation of South Sudan but is home to sympathizers of the southern military that fought against northern forces during Sudan’s long civil war – Bashir’s military strikes are directed at Muslims as well as Christians, but churches and Christians are especially targeted, he said.
“The ongoing war against Christians and African indigenous people is more of an ‘ethnic cleansing’ in that they kill all black people, including Muslims, but they give specific connotation to the war in targeting Christians to secure
Aerial bombardment killed the five members of the Asaja Dalami Kuku family, which belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, in Umsirdipa in the Nuba Mountains on Feb. 25, the source said. The government in Khartoum is using Antonov airplanes to drop bombs, “coupled with state- sponsored militia targeting churches and Christian families,” said the humanitarian worker.
“The brutal state-sponsored militias are moving from house to house searching for Christian and African indigenous homes as the government continues with air strikes,” he added. The
In Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, at least four church buildings have been razed and more than 20 Christians killed, he said.
“The Islamic north sees Nuba Christians as infidels who need to be Islamized through Jihad,” the source said. “But the fact of the matter is this war is ethnic cleansing – a religious as well as political war, indeed a complex situation.”
Between June 2011 and March 2012, four church buildings have been destroyed, said another humanitarian worker; they belonged to the Episcopal Church of Sudan, the
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