Ethnic and religious minorities are being trapped between the two sides of the civil war that has been ongoing since April 2023 in Sudan. Minorities are targeted by both the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF). Since the beginning of the conflict, more than 2.3 million people left Sudan and sought shelter in the neighboring countries, while more than 2.2 million people were displaced internally. Among the people fleeing from war, we can find multiple ethnic and religious minorities.

Between the 2nd and 7th of October, the SAF carried out a series of arrests among a group of Christians belonging to the Nub ethnic minority group. The group was fleeing from the skirmishes in Khartoum and temporarily stayed in River Nile State, northern Sudan. Here the SF troops arrested 95 individuals from the group: 16 men, 25 women, and 54 children. From the people arrested, the women and children were set free, but the status of the arrested Sudanese Christian men is unclear.

Since the beginning of the conflict, the Sudanese Council of Churches has filed multiple reports about the abuses that their communities have had to endure. There were multiple attacks reported against church leaders and church buildings. In many instances, soldiers burned down and looted the churches, and some of the church buildings were used as military bases.

Source: Barnabas Aid