Hundreds of Muslims in attack on church

Hundreds of Muslims stormed a Christian church complex used by southerners in Khartoum at the weekend, witnesses said, raising fears that recent clashes between Sudan and South Sudan were stoking ethnic tensions in the city.

The attackers ransacked buildings, knocked down walls and burned Bibles, Youssef Matar, secretary general of the Presbyterian Evangelical Church, said yesterday.

South Sudan, where most follow Christian and traditional African beliefs, declared independence from Sudan in July after decades of civil war with the overwhelmingly Muslim north.

But hundreds of thousands of southerners, and people from regions close to the shared border, remain in Khartoum, many of them in a state of legal limbo.

Saturday’s attack on the church came a day after South Sudan’s army pulled out of the key Heglig oil field, an area it seized from Sudan in the worst violence between the two countries since secession.

Sudan quickly declared victory over its former civil war foe, prompting widespread celebrations in Khartoum.

A Muslim preacher known for fiery sermons took advantage of the excited climate to call for “jihad” against Christians during Friday evening prayers, prompting hundreds to attack the church the next day, Mr Matar said. “No-one could believe it. Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

Ethiopians, Eritreans and Indians, as well as Christians from Sudan and South Sudan, use the church, he said.

Three people who tried to defend the area were injured, and Mr Matar said he had contacted authorities to defend the church. “We’re citizens, we’re Sudanese, we’re not foreigners,” he said. “They should protect us.”