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Over 14,550 Sudanese slaves were freed and returned to their homes in southern Sudan between July and December 2001, without payment of the customary “redemption fees”. According to Christian Solidarity International, an anti-slavery organization, this mass liberation of slaves was the result of cooperation between itself, organizations known as “Peace Committees” at Warawar and Abindau and 11 Arab chiefs in Kordofan, northern Sudan. The chiefs arranged the free release of slaves held in their chieftainships. They may have been motivated by fear that if they did not release the slaves, southern Sudanese would refuse to let the northern chiefs pasture their cattle in southern pastures. Slavery has been used as a weapon by the northern Islamic regime in a civil war against the predominantly Christian and animist south since the 1980s. The people of northern Sudan are mainly Arabs, and the people of southern Sudan mainly black. Slave raids by northern soldiers on civilian villages in the south are common. Interviews with over 1200 freed slaves revealed that over 70% of females over age 12 were raped while in bondage, and 15% of boy slaves older than 6 were sexually abused. Officials for CSI state that the mass release of slaves without compensation is a major development in the operation of a CSI-sponsored “underground railroad” in Sudan. Previously, CSI paid networks of Arab retrievers a fixed rate of 50,000 Sudanese pounds (the price of two goats) for every slave freed. Over 78,000 Sudanese slaves have been freed since 1995. It is estimated that over 200,000 slaves remain in bondage in northern Sudan. – Evangelical Press News Service
Under orders from the Turkish Interior Ministry, local authorities in nine provinces in Turkey have informed 23 small Protestant church groups across the country that their rented or purchased meeting places are in violation of municipal zoning laws and the Turkish Penal Code. The directive particularly targeted the use of “apartment flats, shops and detached buildings” by “Protestants, Baha’is, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Believers in Christ”. It also declared that conducting Sunday schools, Bible schools and other religious education without permission from the Turkish Education Ministry is punishable with fines and prison sentences. A few Protestant churches have buildings approved decades ago and were not included in the directive. Turkey officially has freedom of religion, and it is legal to convert. However, churches are not allowed to own buildings unless they are legally recognized, and the government resists granting such recognition. In December 2000, the Turkish Supreme Court gave the Istanbul Protestant Church legal recognition, over the objections of the government’s General Foundations Directorate (although that church also received the directive stating its building is illegal). Other churches have similarly applied to the Supreme Court to gain legal recognition. Turkey’s 66 million people are mostly Muslim; there are about 25,000 Jews, 100,000 ethnic Armenian, Syrian and Greek Orthodox Christians and several thousand Protestants in 40 congregations. The government’s Religious Affairs Directorate admits that 81% of the Muslim mosques being constructed in the country also do not have legal permission; one of them is being asked to close. The Protestant churches have said they will appeal to the courts to overturn the directive. – Compass Direct
Since September, Mennonite Central Committee’s Afghanistan relief commitments have totalled over $4.7 million. They include 5000 tonnes of grains from the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, 40,000 handmade comforters and blankets and over $315,000 to purchase refugee tents. Some of the aid has been distributed by the Iranian Red Crescent Society to families who fled their homes and are living in refugee camps. MCC is also applying $476,000 to the purchase of seeds and tools for those hoping to return to their villages. Since 1995, MCC has provided over $10.9 million in aid to the needy in Afghanistan. – Mennonite Central Committee
Vietnamese pastor Nguyen Hong Quang, 43, has led a Mennonite congregation house fellowship in Vietnam since overseas Vietnamese pastors sent him a copy of the Mennonite Church’s Confession of Faith in 1997. While Mennonite house fellowships are few in Vietnam, there was a thriving Mennonite congregation in the Saigon area when the communist government gained control of South Vietnam in 1975. Within a year, the local government took control of all church properties. A leadership crisis dispersed the congregation among other evangelical church groups. Restrictions on religious freedom in Vietnam eased in the late 1980s. In 1999, the Prime Minister proclaimed freedom of belief and religion as long as that belief did not conflict with state policies. Quang thought that he had obtained the approval of government authorities for his house fellowship. However, on Good Friday, April 13, 2001, security police burst into Quang’s house where over 100 people were meeting and wrote up charges against some of them. Two months later, security police stopped a meeting of 70 children and their teachers in his home, threatening the children and charging the teachers. On Aug. 17, 2001, Quang and his wife were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City, and their identity cards were confiscated. They were later released. The Evangelical Church of Vietnam was given legal status in early 2001, and a representative of the government’s Bureau of Religious Affairs has said that the government will eventually give legal recognition to other church groups as well. – Mennonite World Conference
Mennonite Central Committee is providing $52,000 to repair 160 water tanks and solar water heating panels that were damaged during the recent Israeli re-invasion of the West Bank. The families that will benefit live in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem. The 160 water tanks, each costing $240, will be produced in Ramallah and Nablus. The solar panels will be repaired using material produced in the West Bank. – Mennonite Central Committee
Three colleges in Indiana will receive a Lilly Endowment grant of $13.8 million US from July 2002 to June 2006 in order to expand their peace, justice and conflict studies programs. The grant, named “Plowshares” from Isaiah 2:4, will also be used to set up a “Peace House” in the city of Indianapolis, where students can gain practical experience about peace and justice work while taking courses in peace studies, social justice, reconciliation and related issues. The three colleges are Goshen College, run by Mennonite Church USA; Earlham College, run by the Quakers; and Manchester College, run by the Church of the Brethren. – Goshen College
A ceasefire was signed in April between the Angolan government and the UNITA rebel group, the first step to ending a 27-year civil war that has forced 4.1 million Angolans from their homes. Mennonite Central Committee and the Council of Christian Churches in Angola are working together to produce a Portuguese language manual to help youth leaders build skills in conflict transformation and alternatives to violence. MCC and CICA are also planning to distribute MCC school kits, used clothing, and corn, beans and canola oil (provided by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank). The war began in 1975 when Angola obtained independence from Portugal. In the early years, Cuba and the Soviet Union backed the then-Marxist Angolan government, and the US supported UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola). More recently, the fighting has centred on Angola’s rich oil and diamond reserves. In February, rebel leader Jonas Savimbi was killed along with dozens of UNITA soldiers. UNITA and the Angolan government have since pledged to abide by the terms of a failed 1994 peace accord. – Mennonite Central Committee
A Jerusalem seminar planned by Mennonite World Conference and Mennonite Central Committee for July was cancelled due to escalating violence in the region, concern for the participants’ safety and a lack of passports for some of the participants. The seminar was designed for French-speaking Mennonite and Brethren in Christ church leaders and teachers from the Congo, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, India, France and Canada. Plans included meeting with Palestinian Christians. MCC first initiated a Jerusalem seminar in 1999. A second seminar was postponed last year. – Mennonite Central Committee
Up to half of all crimes in Canada are linked to alcohol and drugs, according to a Solicitor-General report released in May. Alcohol overuse was the main contributing factor in one-third of murders and assaults. Drug use was the main contributing factor in only 7% of murders and 9% of assaults, but was more frequently linked to economic crimes such as shoplifting and stealing. – Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Globe and Mail
Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding issued a declaration at the end of May in Beirut, Lebanon, calling for the end of Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory and the lifting of economic sanctions against Iraq. “The Lebanon Declaration” condemns “political threats to nations and repeated political efforts to label some as ‘evil’, to call others ‘men of peace’, and to use Scripture for the purpose of waging war”. The declaration also calls for a rejection of “any and all forms of violence, whether manifested as sanctions, occupation, terrorism or war”. Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding is a group of American evangelical Christians led by Gary Burge, a professor at Wheaton College. – Evangelical Press News Service
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Last modified August 13, 2002.
© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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