Sudan Prayer Points:

Both
• South Sudan became a country on the 9th of July, 2011. Southern Sudan is predominately Christian, and Northern Sudan is predominately Muslim.
• There are currently between 40 000 and 100 000 Southern Sudanese held captive as slaves, mostly in the North.
• There have been ongoing small conflicts, with the North threatening to invade the South.
• There have been a lot of human rights violations, especially in relation to women
• There are over 70 000 street kids in the North alone. Numbers are not available for the South, but it is likely to be high due to the violence and HIV.
• Translation issues: there are 114 languages in Sudan. Only 10 have the whole Bible, and one has only just been completed. Pray for the missionaries who are involved in the laborious task of reducing a language to writing and then translating the Bible into that language.
North
• Northern Sudan has been terrorizing the people of the Nuba Mountains, one of the predominately Christian areas in North Sudan.
• Prevention by the Northern government of air to go to unapproved areas, meaning that international aid is used as a weapon of war, starving out people who the government does not approve of.
• The North is under Shiara law, which means a lot of restrictions on certain people groups, especially Christians and women.
• Witness in the North has been predominantly killed. There are still some Coptic Christians, and the Nuba mountains. Pray strength and continued witness for these people.

South
• In the South there is a lack of basic infrastructure and a reliance on oil. The North is currently demanding a levy of $32 per barrel – with the result that South is refusing to produce. There is the possibility of moving it via Kenya or Ethiopia, as their governments are supportive of the South.
• They are having a lot of issues in rebuilding the country. Pray wisdom as they do this, pretty much from scratch.
• The LRA is operating in Southern Sudan.
• Water for wells – many people are without clean water. Water for wells and other programs aims to provide wells and other clean water sources for these people. Pray success, that the wells will be replenished and not overdrawn, and that there be a minimum amount of waterborne diseases
• Unity for the church. With the struggle to exist under the Islamic Northern government, the church has been highly unified. Without this struggle, there has been some discord. Pray against this.
• Pray that there will be a determination to witness, including to their Northern neighbors. There is a lot of bitterness there, but pray that this never gets in the way of their gospel witness.

Things You Can Do:
• Persecution Project has a petition to the UN
• Write to the UN – our representatives, their representatives, and other representatives. China, for example, has consistently overlooked the human rights abuses of the North because of the oil they were exporting (from the South). Let these countries know that things such as human rights abuses, including the imprisonment of people for religious beliefs, are not acceptable to the international community
• Click to Give has a petition up: Beyond Kony, petitioning the US government and other governments to provide ongoing support to the areas affected by Joseph Kony (the LRA)


Our next session is on Israel on Monday the 2nd of April.