In December of last year the Sudan regime raided homes and churches of the people of the Nuba Mountains detaining those of Christian faith. Rev. Abdulraheem Kodi and Rev. Kuwa Shamal Abu Zumam were 2 evangelical pastors from the Church of Christ in Sudan who were apprehended and accused of various offenses including espionage and waging war against the state. They could receive the death penalty if found guilty.
As trials have already begun Operation Blessing's Bill Horn and others urge the U.S. and the United Nations to step in.
Others have also been charged with conspiring against the state and provoking hatred, spreading false information. Czech pastor Petr Jasek and Darfuri human rights activist Abduelmoneim Adulmwlla were 2 of the other men detained.
Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Sudan government enacted a comprehensive peace agreement in 2005. This peace agreement came to an abrupt halt when the Sudan regime, under President Omar al-Bashir, began to bomb the region of the Nuba Mountains.
Nuba Mountains have one of the largest population of Christians in Sudan.
Human rights and Christian groups say Omar al-Bashir's regime is targeting the Nuba Mountains to eradicate those of Christian beliefs.
According to the Bishop of Kadugli Diocese, Reverend Andudu Adam Elnail, who fled Sudan in 2011, Kodi and Zumam are in solitary confinement and unable to reach out to their families. Elnail claims he fled after he refused to use his church leadership reach to endorse Omar al-Bashir, according to a Fox News report.
"The National Congress Party of Khartoum have declared Jihad, Islamic Jihad on all the Nuba whether you are Muslim, whether you are Christian. Nuba did not go and attack Khartoum. Nuba did not go and take anything from Khartoum. Instead, Khartoum is the one exploiting the area. They are taking the oil. This is the only oil producing state in the north, in the remaining part of the country," says SPLA Nuba's Abdel Aziz.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson contends officials from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum have been monitoring the arrest and detainment of the pastors and have voiced their concerns on numerous occasions.
