Emile, I have often publicly stated that fundamental islam is the equivalent of fascism- both the Nazi German and the Islamic Fundamentalist threaten you with death if you do not do what they say. One wrapped its ideology in political trappings- another wraps its ideology in religious trappings- but it is one in the same. Again I ask you to contact your congresiosnal representative and urge them to lean on the UN to stop the slaving season which is just beginning in theSudan:
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News Article by IPS on February 10, 1999 at 23:51:41:
Religious Hatred Flares up on Sudanese Campuses
Inter Press Service
10-FEB-99
KHARTOUM, (Feb. 9) IPS - Christian students from Sudanese universities and colleges have appealed to the United Nations, the Red Cross and human rights groups to protect them against attacks by Islamic fundamentalists.
About 60 non-Moslem students from the university of Khartoum fled their hostels and lectures yesterday while attacks spread to other universities and colleges across the Sudanese capital, according to a Christian student at the University of Khartoum.
Riot police were deployed on the campus last night to prevent any violent incidents.
But despite the police presence, a female Christian student was reportedly attacked at the university of Juba, which has been temporarily moved to Khartoum because of the civil war in the south of the country.
Threats on the lives of Christian students have intensified on the campus. Anti-Christian posters and wall newspapers have multiplied, forcing the about 300 non-Muslim students in various universities and colleges around Khartoum to flee and stay away from lectures.
The students, the majority of whom come from the non-Muslim south, sent the appeal to the U.N. representative in the Sudan today. In the appeal, they urged the international community to protect them from the Islamic fundamentalists.
They alleged that their personal belongings were burnt following the attack, which began on Feb. 6. They said they were prevented from entering the university premises yesterday by a group of Islamic fundamentalists.
"We have been hunted since Saturday and our lives are now in danger," said a statement issued by the Association of Christian students yesterday.
The fighting broke out on Feb. 6 when a group of Muslim students attacked an exhibition organized by the Association of Christian Students at the University of Khartoum.
More than 15,000 religious books, including a number of Bibles, were burned to ash and more than 7,000 other copies were torn and strewn all over the campus.
Also destroyed were about 400 cassettes containing Christian songs and speeches, which were dumped into the Nile river, the organizers told IPS today.
Two television sets and video cassettes were also destroyed. Posters and paintings, as well as 19,000 crosses, were thrown into the Nile.
The books were donated by the Coptic Church for the exhibition, which the organizers say cost 30 million pounds. One dollar is equal to 2,300 Sudanese pounds.
To reduce tensions, the University of Khartoum administration issued a
statement on Feb. 7, calling on Christian students to suspend the show until further notice. It promised to take measures against those students who participated in the unrest. It did not elaborate.
Unconfirmed reports say four Christian and three Muslim students were injured during the incident.
The attack was reportedly instigated by two lecturers at the University of Khartoum, who described the exhibition as a "humiliation" for Islam, according to one Christian student leader.
The two lecturers reportedly told Muslim students yesterday that they were prepared to pay "Daiya" (blood money) if a Muslim student killed a Christian student. About 5 million Sudanese pounds were promised to any student who would kill a Christian, according to the Christian students.
In a related development, Omdurman Islamic University, one of the radical Islamic institutions of learning in the country, issued a statement warning Sudan's non-Muslims, who make up more than 35 percent of the country's 32 million population, to "refrain from anti-Islamic activities or face the consequences."
The statement, a copy of which was obtained by IPS today, urged the
government of Pres. Omer Hassan el Beshir, which declared Sudan an Islamic Republic seven years ago, to confiscate all Christian assets and buildings, and to burn all Christians books which are still in the bookstores across the vast Northeast African country.
The statement called on all the Islamic movements in the country, scholars and committed Moslems to force university administrations to ban all Christian activities, force non-Muslim girls to wear Islamic veils and cover their legs.
"The suspicious movement of Christianity in the Sudan has become a threat to Muslims and the Islamic faith, to keep quiet about it is a crime for a Muslim," said the statement. "The government must move quickly to ban all the activities of the Church in Sudan because Muslims will not accept this destructive act against Islam and its faith."
The statement alleged that the security forces last month uncovered a
"dangerous" clandestine Christian organization in Khartoum.
"Some Christian books are against Islam and Prophet Mohamed while others are against the Islamic laws introduced in the country," it said.
The statement, which was posted in streets in Khartoum, proposed an
eight-point agenda to be implemented by the government to "end religious crisis" in the Sudan.
It suggested that the government should strictly apply the 1962 Missionary act, control and monitor the buying of houses and lands by the Church in the Sudan, control the organized migration of Christians to Europe and North America, and deny them renewal of their travel documents.
It also urged the government to monitor the sources of funding of all Christian institutions, and to expel all non-Sudanese Christian missionaries from the country. |
