But he easily could have been. He happened to be in Denver when they came for him in Kadugli, in South Kordofan, Sudan. They came for many others as well. The army of the Khartoum regime, (the people who brought you the horrors of Darfur) invaded the area. They and allied militia have been killing or driving out the indigenous Nuba people. Some are calling it ethnic cleansing. The U.S. says it does not have enough information to say. But indications are that horrific crimes are being committed and are about to be committed, and by the time international monitors and journalists are allowed into the area, (if they ever are) it will already be too late. But while the UN and the US dither, communications have been largely cut off, and reliable reports are hard to come by. But those reports that do get out are hair raising, suggesting thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of people driven from their homes. What's more there are indications that a major military offensive may be imminent, and if so, deaths and displacement of millions is likely.
Meanwhile, the man they could not find, found his way to Washington to meet with members of Congress, human rights groups and the international media. I was able to interview him while he was on the road. He has important and authoritative information about the situation, and in particular, how the reality on the ground is different than that portrayed by American Religious Right groups.
He is Anglican Bishop Andudu Adam Elnail, who is a leader in interfaith relations for his church in Sudan. Here is part of my article and interview with the Bishop. But just in case the excerpts don't do justice to the whole piece, stop here and read the whole piece in context: On the Verge of Crisis in Sudan: ‘If the World Stands Idly By This Time, They Will Bring Genocide’
The Sudan Armed Forces invaded the province of South Kordofan on June 5 and began house-to-house searches for opponents of the Khartoum regime, along with those of the wrong race, religion, or ethnicity. Many were rounded-up and taken away, or summarily executed. The Nuba, a number of peoples who populate the Nuba Mountains, were being hunted and killed. Aerial bombing campaigns were carried out. Tens of thousands fled. Reports trickling out of Kadugli, the provincial capital, describe it as a “ghost town.”
Armed men searched in vain for Andudu (who goes by his first name). But his church—the diocesan cathedral, a small brick structure, very humble by western Anglican standards—was looted and burned, as was his home.
As displaced people flee Kadugli in all directions, Bishop Andudu has become a refugee of a different kind: He is a black African Christian leader called to the world stage as a voice for the persecuted, the displaced, the slaughtered, and the silenced.
Readers will be relieved to know, however, that Governor Haroun, himself an indicted war criminal, has issued a statement:
Kadugli - The Governor of South Kordofan State, Ahmed Haroun has affirmed the control of the army, police and security forces over all the areas in the state except limited locations.
In press statements to SUNA Friday Haroun called on the citizens who left the state due to the recent development to return to their homes after the stability of the security situations in the state. Meanwhile large numbers of citizens returned to Kadugli after the situation returned to normal in the town.
Human rights groups and Bishop Andudu tell a different story.
RD: A number of American human rights experts have said that the killing and forced displacement of the Ngok Dinka people from Abyei in May, and their replacement by the Arab, northern-aligned Misseriya, constitutes “ethnic cleansing.” Is ethnic cleansing part of what is happening in Kadugli?
Andudu: Since 1983, many Nuba people have been killed in Lubba Village—men, women, even children—put in huts and burned alive. The Sudan Armed Force’s Antonovs—Russian-made planes whose sight and sound is familiar to any child here—have done bombing campaigns, killing, maiming and displacing thousands of Nuba people.
Now in the current war which started two weeks ago and escalates day by day, thousands have been killed in Kadugli and bombed by Antonovs across the towns and villages of South Kordofan. The government of Sudan has blocked roads and closed the Kadugli airport. The humanitarian aid organizations have been obstructed from distributing food and other aid to families around and within Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan. That is death! This is the government killing its own people defiantly. This is ethnic cleansing, to grab up the land and its resources by driving out and killing the people of Nuba who are rightful owners of the land.
If I were not here in the United States, I might be in a grave in Kadugli by now, out behind our looted and burned down cathedral. By the grace of God I am alive. My people are being hunted down house-to-house, arrested, tortured and bombarded by their own government. Our homes, aid centers and churches have been burned down and the Nuba people are being trampled down.
The government began to isolate us from the outside world by cutting off power and cell phone towers. One hundred people sought refuge in the town’s Catholic church. They were forced out with tear gas. Some were hauled away by security forces. Some were killed, among them a priest, an attorney, aid workers, and people targeted because of their ethnicity or politics. This happened under the noses of UN peacekeepers who did not keep the peace.
People who escaped got word to me that armed men searched house-to-house for our pastors and called my name. They looted the seven computers and TV from the Anglican church’s cyber-cafe, and burned it, our church offices, my house, and our cathedral.
I asked him why he thinks he and the Anglican Church are being targeted.
As chair of an interfaith committee, I have developed good relationships with Arabs and Muslims in some parts of the State and some Islamic extremists are not happy because of that. In addition, I am black and a Christian, which means inferior and an infidel to some Muslims and Arabs—but not to all. I know some Muslims and some Arabs oppose what the Khartoum regime is doing. In the Nuba Mountains, there are marriages between Christian and Muslim families, so we are showing the world how to live together. We know how to build relationships based on mutual trust and respect, if the Khartoum regime would leave us in peace.
I also asked him about the religious dynamics generally in Sudan, as they relate to war and peace.
The issue is complex and has more to do with Arabization—some Arabs imposing their own culture on black people, refusing, denying other black cultures. In some learning institutions and schools in Sudan, there is little or no history of black people; what children learn is history from Arab perspectives.
We do not have big problems with Muslims in most parts of South Kordofan, only in a few places, especially in the areas where Arab culture and politics are mixed with radical perspectives of Islamic religion. As you can see from the genocide in Darfur, where most Darfuri people are Muslims, the Khartoum regime has shown willingness to kill Muslims, so it is obviously not just a matter of Islamic religion. The Khartoum regime is led by individuals who are Arabs and who are indicted war criminals, and who have a record of oppressing black people, whatever religions we take. But the Khartoum regime does not speak for all Arabs, any more than they speak for [all] Muslims.
For those of us in the U.S. who have to contend with the relentless politics of "blame it on Islam," Andudu's articulation of the values of peace and inter-faith respect and understanding, and his refusal to smear all Arabs and Muslims because of the horrific actions of some, is a model for contending with some of our domestic demagogues.