Laa-Laa لا لا موقع شباب السودان الحر
Rep. Ed Royce, Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee
Rep. Chris Smith, Chairman, House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
Rep. Jim McGovern, Co-Chair, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Rep. Randy Hultgren, Co-Chair, Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission
Dear Chairmen Royce, Smith, McGovern and Hultgren,
Allow me first to salute your courage, clear vision and consistency on the issues of Sudan, notably on human rights, peace, democracy and accountability for genocide and war crimes. I am among thousands of Sudanese who are following your continuous efforts with admiration.
I would like to bring to your attention that the Sudan government, encouraged by the silence of the international community and their engagement with the U.S. and Europe, is systematically infringing on the human rights of the Sudanese people. In this open letter, I would like to focus more on the continuous attacks on the Sudanese Christians. Chairman Malik Agar, myself, and my colleagues within the leadership of the Sudan Call, regardless of our faith, we are on the frontline against the campaign of the Sudan government targeting the Sudanese Christians as it violates basic human rights, damages nation-building of our country and it makes it difficult to have a common agenda into the future. In addition, it is one of the reasons that led to the secession of South Sudan.
Earlier this week, the Sudanese government stormed the Church of Christ and this is not the first time they have attacked Christian churches. Next Tuesday, 31 October, Christian pastors and administrators of the Church of Christ will be taken to court in the capital, Khartoum. Among them are Rev. Ayoub Tutu, Chair of the Sudan Christ Church, Ali Hakiem, a patron of the Christ Church, Rev. Imprtor Hamid, Rev. Habiel Ibrahim and Abdelbagi Tutu, a member of the church’s executive committee.
We would like to ask you to take up this case and the campaign against the Sudanese Christians in particular, and moreover, for issues of peacebuilding and democracy to be in the heart of the engagement between the United States Administration and the brutal Sudan government.
Lastly, we believe it is important at this juncture for the U.S. Congress and Administration to engage with the Sudanese democratic forces and civil society of the opposition to balance the engagement with Sudan’s dictatorship, which continues to commit genocide and war crimes. As we are talking now, General Omar Bashir is planning to amend his own constitution to ‘re-elect himself’ as he has been doing undemocratically for 28 years.
Sincerely,
Yasir Arman
Secretary General
Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement-North
29 October 2017
