had gathered to protect the church. They started to destroy (pull down) the church while
it was closed with its furniture and holy/ sacred items there in. Steven Adil Kajo (23
years old) who tried to object their action was arrested and later released after
destroying the said church.
Althawra’s (square 61) Church incident: On 28th Oct. 2015 at (10:00 am) armed
soldier from NISS and police came on six (6) vehicles with a bulldozer and destroyed
Althawra’s (square 61) church. The items that were destroyed include all the church’s
furniture and holy/ sacred belongings that were in.
Incident background
According to priest (James), “Althawra’s (square 29) church was established in this
location since 1984 when it was an open area. Later on 1995 the land registration
authority re-planned the area and they allocated the alternative land to the mosques
and ignored the church yet, the church authority kept requesting. The current land of the
said church is (400 m2) and their congregation is about (450 persons). The Althawra’s
(square 61) church in this area was re-planned in 1999 but the church was ignored
when the alternative land was distributed”.
The priest added that “the land registration authority with NISS and police tried twice in
the last four days before the incident to destroy this same church (square 29). The first
trial was on 17th Oct. 2015 at 10:00 AM they came on six (6) vehicles with bulldozer, but
the church authority objected asking for the official order. The soldiers went back and on
the same day issued and delivered official letter by 02:00 PM giving the church
authorities seventy two (72) hours to evacuate. The second trial was on 20 th Oct. 2015
the same soldiers came back again but the congregations/worshippers gathered inside
the church and started to pray, then the soldiers confiscated some items and went
away. The following day they came back and destroyed the Church”.
An eyewitness (lady by names of Hawa) said; “The destruction was carried out without
care or regard to the sanctity of the church which is a violation to our constitutional
rights and against the international conventions”.
As a result of the destruction, the congregations of the churches resorted to gather and
pray from the open space without any shelter/facility.
Recommendations;
HUDO Centre urges the government of Sudan to safeguard the rights of the IDPs
and to respect their rights in receiving aid according to the international laws.
Urge the government to solve the issue of the demolished churches.
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