wfn.org | [ENS] Episcopalians march on Sudanese embassy in Washington

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Friday, May 28, 2004

Episcopalians march on Sudanese embassy in Washington

By Alexander D. Baumgarten

ENS 052804-1
 
[ENS] More than 100 Episcopalians marched on the Embassy of the Sudan in
Washington, D.C., May 26 to protest the Sudanese government's recent seizure
of the headquarters of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) and its
continued involvement in human-rights abuses in the Darfur region of western
Sudan.

Last week, armed police of the Government of Sudan entered the Guesthouse of
the ECS in Khartoum--which also serves the Church's Provincial Office--and
ordered the eviction of Church personnel and property from the building. The
police were acting on a court-issued order in which the judge authorized the
use of force to ensure eviction. Church staff had no choice but to vacate the
building peacefully while trying to follow the legal process. They have since
taken refuge in the Cathedral in Khartoum.

Worst humanitarian disaster

The embassy demonstration addressed that situation as well as the continued
humanitarian crisis in Darfur where, for the past 15 months,
government-sponsored militias have carried out a systematic pattern of ethic
cleansing against its people. The U.N. has described the situation in Darfur
as the worst humanitarian disaster in the world today.

Assistant Bishop of Virginia Francis Campbell Gray led this week's march at
the Sudanese embassy, urging officials of the Government of Sudan to restore
the ECS property and cease involvement in the atrocities in Darfur. Marchers
prayed, sang hymns, and listened to speeches from Gray and others who
addressed the rally. Among those marching were Episcopalians from Northern
Virginia and the Washington metro area, U.S. congressional staffers,
representatives of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, and staff members
of the Episcopal Churchs Office of Government Relations.

"I am deeply gratified for the strong support and the spirit of passion and
compassion exhibited by the protestors," said Gray. "I believe we were heard
and that our presence will make a difference to our Sudanese sisters and
brothers. Their courage and fortitude in the midst of danger and oppression
inspires us."

The sentiments of the marchers echoed those of Presiding Bishop Frank
Griswold, who last week addressed the events in Sudan in a statement
delivered to the U.S. State Department, members of Congress, and the
Government of Sudan. "These events only add to the historic tragedy of Sudan,
where--throughout 20 years of civil conflict--the ruling power relentlessly
has carried out acts of violence against its own people," Griswold wrote.

At the conclusion of this week's demonstration, Sudanese embassy officials
emerged and distributed a statement denying that the seizure of ECS property
was motivated by religion or politics. According to the statement, the
property had been legally seized as the result of a court-ordered eviction
arising from an ownership dispute. Gray--who met with embassy officials
following distribution of the statement--disputed the Sudanese government's
characterization of the events. "I believe that there are serious
discrepancies in the printed statement which was handed out by the Sudan
embassy," said Gray. "These discrepancies are being investigated."

The property-seizure by the Sudanese government is the latest in a long
pattern of its aggression toward the ECS and interference with Church
properties. This has included the confiscation of the old Khartoum Cathedral,
attempts to confiscate the headquarters of the Diocese of Khartoum in
Omduran, and efforts to demolish Church-run schools in the Diocese of Renk.

One step closer

Last week's events have the tragic irony of coming at a time when the peace
process in Sudan--where residents have lived through a 20-year civil conflict
that has taken the lives of more than two million people--finally has made
progress. On the same day as the march on the Sudanese embassy, the
Government of Sudan and Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)
signed three major peace protocols in the Kenyan town of Niavasha, bringing
the two sides in the north-south civil conflict one step closer to a
comprehensive peace accord. Moreover, just last week, the U.S. State
Department removed Sudan from the list of countries not cooperating with the
war on terrorism.
 
"Like the ongoing Government-sponsored ethnic cleansing in Darfur in western
Sudan, [the seizure of Church property] serve[s] as a somber reminder that,
even at a time when many had hoped and prayed that peace was on the horizon
for the Sudan, violence remains a tragic reality," Griswold wrote last week.

--Alexander D. Baumgarten is International Policy Analyst for the Episcopal
Church's Office of Government Relations in Washington.

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