[Today's Prayer] Sudan Forcibly Deports Over 100 South Sudanese Women…Some Separated From Their Children

Sudan recently forcibly deported over 100 South Sudanese Christian women living in Khartoum for religious and political reasons. At least 61 of the deported women were reportedly separated from their children. They left behind children aged between three months and 12 years old, a practice human rights groups and media have condemned as a blatant violation of human rights.

According to Christian Daily International (CDI), one woman told Al-Watan, a South Sudanese Arabic newspaper, "I was forcibly taken away. I left behind two children, aged three and nine, and no one cared for them."

Another woman testified that she was imprisoned in Omdurman for four days before being deported, leaving behind her nine children. Some women were arrested at their homes around 2 a.m., while others were arrested on the street while on their way to the market.

Sudanese authorities raided South Sudanese homes across Khartoum without due process or prior notice, detaining women and deporting them to South Sudan's Upper Nile State, Renk County Commissioner Diing Deng Leuth told Radio Tamazuz.

Trija Allier, one of the deported women, testified, "The police told us, 'Your children are not under our jurisdiction.'" She added, "They arrested us on the street without giving us time to return home to pick up our children."

Another woman, Saba Abbas, said, "During my four-day detention, I was beaten for asking for food or water. It was truly inhumane."

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Jores Otou, a commentator from South Sudan, said, "South Sudan is a dangerous place where these people have fled a horrific civil war. The recent deportations of South Sudanese refugees by Sudan have forcibly separated parents from their children, a grave violation of international law and a serious crime."

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Christians have pointed out that the Sudanese government views South Sudanese citizens as a threat to Islam and a security risk. Most of the deported women had lived in Sudan for decades.

Recently, extremist Islamists in Sudan have been using social media to call for the deportation of many South Sudanese Christians (many of whom were born in Sudan) to South Sudan.

According to the Joshua Project, a religious data research organization, South Sudan's religious makeup is 56% Christian, 34.1% traditional ethnic religion, and 9.4% Muslim. In Sudan, the figure is 93% Muslim, 4.3% traditional ethnic religion, and 2.3% Christian.

Source: Christian Today

“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14)

Father God, we hear the news that the Sudanese government has forcibly deported more than 100 South Sudanese Christian women from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, because they are considered a threat to Islam and a security risk.

Please have mercy on the Sudanese women who have been suddenly deported and have suffered the utter sorrow of being separated from their children simply because they are Christians. May the Lord grant true comfort and hope to the women of South Sudan.

Above all, please assign someone who can immediately raise the children that were left behind. May they grow well in God's love wherever they are and be guided to meet their parents again.

Amidst these hardships, may the church in South Sudan look completely to the Lord, who loved them and chose them before the foundation of the world, saved them with truth, and sanctified them with the Holy Spirit.

Before God, who called the church in South Sudan and the church in Africa to the gospel, may they rise up as churches in South Sudan and Africa, bearing witness to the gospel of life, following the example of Jesus, who disregarded the suffering that lay ahead for the glory that lies beyond the cross, until the day Sudan and all peoples return to the Lord.

Through the church in South Sudan and the church in Africa, may the power of false Islam and the spirit of conflict be broken in Sudan and Africa, and may an army of holy believers of the gospel rise up throughout Sudan and Africa, unafraid of suffering, and finally see the glory of Jesus Christ!