Religious Persecution in Sudan Hearing Committee on Foreign Relations United States Senate
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S. HRG. 105±280 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN SUDAN HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICAN AFFAIRS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION September 25, 1997 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Relations ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 43±816 CC WASHINGTON : 1998 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS JESSE HELMS, North Carolina, Chairman RICHARD G. LUGAR, Indiana JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware PAUL COVERDELL, Georgia PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland CHUCK HAGEL, Nebraska CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts CRAIG THOMAS, Wyoming CHARLES S. ROBB, Virginia ROD GRAMS, Minnesota RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California BILL FRIST, Tennessee PAUL D. WELLSTONE, Minnesota SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JAMES W. NANCE, Staff Director EDWIN K. HALL, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICAN AFFAIRS JOHN, ASHCROFT, Missouri, Chairman ROD GRAMS, Minnesota RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin BILL FRIST, Tennessee PAUL S. SARBANES, Maryland (II) CONTENTS Page Cox, Baroness, Deputy Speaker, The House of Lords, London, England, and President, Christian Solidarity International, United Kingdom ...................... 20 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 25 Nikkel, Reverend Marc, Episcopal Mission Worker, Episcopal Church of Sudan, Diocese of Bor, Nairobi, Kenya .............................................................. 31 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 34 Rone, Jemera, Counsel, Human Rights Watch, Washington, DC ....................... 36 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 40 Smith, Gare, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor ................................................................................................. 5 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 APPENDIX Excerpt fromÐBehind The Red Line: Political Repression in Sudan (Prepared by: Human Rights Watch/Africa ......................................................................... 51 RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION IN SUDAN THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1997 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICAN AFFAIRS, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:07 a.m., in room SD±419, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Ashcroft, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding. Present: Senators Ashcroft and Feingold. Senator ASHCROFT. The committee will come to order. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN ASHCROFT, U.S. SENATOR FROM MISSOURI Senator ASHCROFT. I want to welcome all of you here today, both the witnesses, some of whom have travelled great distances to be with us, and interested individuals. Sudan has become a priority for me, as chairman of the African Affairs Subcommittee, and this hearing will focus on one of the great tragedies in Sudan. Religious persecution is a thread that runs through the civil con- flict and social upheaval that have occurred in Sudan over the last 4 decades. I would like to begin this morning with a brief video seg- ment. A number of organizations have produced videos and this is just one of them. I do not think it would pay for us to try to do a variety of them. I believe ``NBC Dateline'' recently had a video that focused exclu- sively on religious persecution. This item by ``Global Countdown 2000'' is a little broader in its approach. It tells a story about the broader set of concerns in the conflict. I noted that CBN television had also done a video. After we have watched the video, I will proceed to welcome the statements of witnesses after opening statements by members of the committee. Because we have but one screen, I would invite anyone who is not in a position to see the screen to move, and that includes mem- bers of the committee. We will take about 5 minutes for this video. [A video was shown] Senator ASHCROFT. In a post cold war world, where individual liberty has been advanced and democracy has taken root around the globe, it is easy for us to forget that tyranny still exists in many countries where millions are subjected to cruel dictatorships and brutal military regimes. (1) 2 From all the information that I have been able to gather, Sudan is one such country. It is the largest country in Africa in size. Sudan has had the historical potential to serve as a bridge and sta- bilizing link between the Middle East and Africa. Tragically, this country of great potential has been wracked by a civil war inflamed by religious and ethnic hatred for much of its history since inde- pendence in 1956. The Subcommittee on African Affairs held a hearing on ``Sudan and Terrorism'' in May 1997, in which Sudan's sponsorship of international terrorism was discussed. The subject of this hearing will be the war of persecution Sudan is waging against its own peo- ple. Sudan's support for the most violent terrorist organizations in the world is intolerable. But I must say that the atrocities commit- ted by the government in Khartoum against the Sudanese people are even more outrageous and shocking. Sudan's behavior draws what is all too frequently a link between the way regimes are willing to treat their own people and the de- signs and intentions they harbor for those beyond their borders. After overthrowing a democratically elected government in 1989, the military regime of Omar al-Bashir has turned the civil war against southern Sudan into a jihad, or holy war. The government attacks and persecutes all Sudanese who do not ascribe to the gov- ernment's brand of IslamÐa brand of Islam rejected by the vast majority of practicing Muslims. More than 1.5 million civilians have died since the civil war was reignited in 1983, with over 4 million more being displaced by the fighting. An estimated 430,000 refugees have fled Sudan to seek safety in neighboring countries. Human rights organizations working in Sudan have testified be- fore Congress that the government uses ``aerial bombardment and burning of villages, arbitrary arrests, torture, slavery, especially child slavery, hostage taking, summary executions, inciting deadly tribal conflict, the abduction and brainwashing of children, the ar- rest of Christian pastors and lay church workers, and the imprison- ment of moderate Muslim religious leaders'' to suppress dissent and form a radical Islamic State. Being a Muslim does not guarantee freedom from religious perse- cution. Only those who accept the government's particular brand of religious extremism are spared harassment and torment. Major Muslim political parties were banned along with all political par- ties in 1989, and the Muslim sects upon which these parties are based have been harassed by the government. Muslim imams who criticize the government are incarcerated and Muslim ethnic groups in the north, such as the Beja, are at- tacked by government forces, their children sold into slavery or drafted to fight in the civil war against the south. As in a number of Arab countries, Sudanese citizens who repudiate Islam are sub- ject to the death penalty. The government has armed militia groups to serve as its proxy in terrorizing the Sudanese people. The Dinka, the largest ethnic group in southern Sudan, have been the target of genocidal policies characterized by the government as ``draining the sea so the fish cannot swim.'' The slaughter of perhaps 500,000 Dinka and the 3 scorched earth policies of government forces have transformed the face of southern Sudan. As Human Rights Watch Africa reports, ``The deepest conflict is between the government and the Christian churches.'' High offi- cials in the Sudanese Government have referred to Christians as the ``infidel crusaders'' and enemies of Sudan. Christian churches are suspected by the government of being sympathetic to the rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army, and church leaders are singled out for detention, security surveillance, and even execution. During this decade, Reverend Paul Agilti, an Episcopalian clergy- man, was murdered along with one of his parishioners at his church near Bor in Eastern Equatoria. Reverend Agilti's body was dismembered by the government soldiers. Earlier in the decade, Pastor Haroun of the El Nugra church in the Nuba Mountains was crucified by government troops, and churches in Dellami, Haiban, Gorban, Umdurain, and Buram have been burned, with the leaders and members of those churches being killed or tortured. One 40- year-old pastor, Kamal Tutu, was thrown into the embers of his burning church, losing his lower arms and feet to the fire. People of all faiths should be outraged and grieved by what has happened in Sudan. The humanitarian catastrophe, driven by reli- gious and ethnic hatred in Sudan, is comparable in scope to the tragedies of Somalia, Rwanda, and Bosnia combined. We cannot forget that these statistics represent families, moth- ers, fathers, sons, daughtersÐfamilies like ours, yours and mine, that have been shattered by war and crushed by sorrow. This week is an appropriate time to consider religious persecu- tion in Sudan. September 28 marks the beginning of a season of prayer for the persecuted church. This time of prayer will cul- minate in the United States with a day of prayer for the persecuted church on November 16. The Sudanese people do not