Suffering in the Dark

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The Rev. B. Bol Deng presented this paper at Council 2005:

Suffering in the Dark
By The Rev. B. Bol Deng

General Overview

Sudan is the largest country in Africa; its size is as big as the U. S. east of the Mississippi. It is about one million square miles, with the South Sudan occupying more than one quarter of the whole. Sudan borders nine countries: Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central Africa Republic, D. R. Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea. Sudan is vast and varied in territory and demography.

Sudan is blessed with four wonderful contrasting phenomena of nature: the River Nile, the Equatorial forest, the two great deserts—the Sahara and Nubian, and the vast Savannah regions.

There is no accurate population in the Sudan; the two censuses conducted in 1983 and 1993 were conducted at the beginning and midst of war, so the population in South Sudan, and some areas, in the north, controlled by Sudan People Liberation Movement/Army, was not counted.

African populations are the majority in the Sudan: Africans are about 68%; Arabs are about 31% and others are 1%.

Sudan is rich and complex, in cultural, religious, racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity. There are 114 languages in Sudan. Sudan is also rich with natural resources. It was once called the bread basket of the Middle East, but is one of the poorest countries in the world today. The war has not given a chance for the development in the country particularly in the south.

Muslims, mainly in the north, are the majority in the country; they are about 70% of the population; Christians are about 28%; and the remaining 2% are followers of traditional spiritual beliefs. During the period of war, there has been a remarkable upsurge in conversion to the Christian faith in the whole country. Muslims miss us with their bullets but we never missed them with the Gospel. Now the population of Christians is gaining against Muslims and traditional spiritual believers.