Sudanese Catholic Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku Andali of El Obeid 2 December described having survived execution in his country, where he has remained with the faithful amid a deadly war between the Sudan Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The bishop was returning to his diocese after attending a Eucharistic congress in Juba, the South Sudanese capital. The congress on 24 November was organised to mark 50 years—or golden jubilee—of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic bishops’ conference.
In a message to fellow bishops and obtained by OSV News, Bishop Andali said that after arriving in El Obeid from the gathering, he encountered—in separate incidents—the army and, immediately afterward, the paramilitary.
“Guns (were) given to the lads and (they were) instructed to carry out their usual business,” which clearly was execution, the bishop said in his message.
“Thanks to the prayers of the church,” he was saved, he emphasised: A leader of the paramilitary had emerged from his office and ordered the gunmen to free the church people.
But the bishop suffered “heavy blows on the neck, the face and the sides of the head.”
On 21 November the bishops in Sudan and South Sudan expressed deep concern over the deteriorating conflict in Sudan.
The bishop said war was continuous and there was no chance for dialogue between the two fighting sides.