nation, urged Christians Monday, October 31, to urgently help his organization in the reconstruction of the country after decades of civil war in which about 2 million people died.
The 21-year war, which was mainly between forces of the Muslim north and the Christian south,
ended with a peace accord January 2005, but reconstruction in the devastated nation remains an uphill battle, suggested Bishop Elias Taban of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
Adding to the difficulties has been a separate conflict that broke out in the western region of Darfur in 2003 resulting in tens of thousands of deaths and over 1 million displaced, although by early 2005 peacekeeping troops stabilized the situation.
INSTRUMENTAL MAN
Bishop Taban, who was instrumental in re-forming the Sudanese Evangelical Alliance 1.5 years ago, told BosNewsLife in a statement that he visited the United Kingdom in October to raise almost $100,000 for finishing and equipping a hospital in the remote village of Goli in southern Sudan.
"We have no schools, no health services, no roads, no infrastructure. In the district where I live, Yei, one doctor has to serve 300,000 people," he added.
"On a visit last week to the Evangelical Alliance offices in London he appealed to Christians to
give money to establish many more Christian-run schools and hospitals," said the Evangelical Alliance United Kingdom (EAUK). "It is hoped the majority of the funding for the hospital in Goli will come through interested doctors and businessmen," the organization said in remarks obtained by BosNewsLife.
HOSPITAL FOR 300,000
The hospital in Goli was to be completed by the end of 2006 and will have 50 beds. It will serve a population of 300,000 people. The fundraising is being organized by Medic Assist International, a medical charity supporting people living in poverty or facing persecution, the EAUK said.
Yet despite some progress, tensions remain with isolated religious clashes in the country. In one such incident last month a Lutheran church was reportedly torched by unknown arsonists in a Khartoum suburb. Sudan’s government has not responded to church leaders requesting an investigation into the October 18 attack, Christian news agency Compass Direct reported.
Christians officially comprise about 5 percent of the over 40-million strong mainly Muslim population of Sudan.
The country has been ruled by a military junta since 1989. The government is run by an alliance of the military and the National Congress Party (NCP), formerly the National Islamic Front (NIF), which espouses an Islamist platform. Military regimes favoring Islamic-oriented governments have dominated national politics since independence from the UK in 1956. (With reports from London and Sudan).
