A pastor from the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) in River Nile state was detained overnight recently in what church members describe as an ongoing effort by a local businessman to seize church property.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Police officers from the state’s Criminal Investigation Department arrived at the home of the Rev. Daud Fudul Kachu in Atbara at around 6 p.m. on October 28 and presented him with an arrest warrant. Witnesses said that when members of his congregation requested time for him to consult the church lawyer, two other officers emerged from hiding and forced him into a waiting vehicle.
Pastor Kachu, who has led the church for three decades, was taken to Atbara Police Station and placed in custody. He was questioned the following morning and told that he had 30 days to vacate the church premises at the demand of a Muslim businessman.
“They told us the law is above your religion,” a church member said after speaking with officers at the police station.
Police allegedly pressed the pastor to sign a document relinquishing any claim to the property, but he refused. He was released around midday on Wednesday after the church attorney intervened.
According to sources within the congregation, police have since been looking for other church leaders listed in documents submitted by the businessman.
The dispute is part of a broader pattern of attempts to take over Christian-owned properties in Sudan, particularly those belonging to SPEC and other Protestant churches. Similar confrontations have occurred in Khartoum, Omdurman, and other regions.
GospelRaw gathered that in September, three men reportedly linked to an Islamic business group entered the Evangelical School of Sudan in Omdurman and demanded that hundreds of displaced Christians sheltering there leave the compound. The school, also owned by the SPEC, has faced repeated assaults since the era of former President Omar al-Bashir, often with the backing of local officials sympathetic to Islamist interests.
Sudan remains deeply affected by the civil conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which erupted in April 2023. The fighting has devastated large parts of the country, killing tens of thousands and forcing over 11 million people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.
Both military factions have targeted civilians, including Christians accused of supporting rival groups. Reports indicate that churches have been looted, occupied, or destroyed, while believers face harassment and arrest for practicing their faith.
Open Doors, in its 2025 World Watch List, ranked Sudan as the fifth most dangerous country for Christians, citing killings, sexual violence, and forced conversions. The organization said many Christians are trapped in war zones and are struggling to find food, shelter, or safety.
In the besieged city of El Fasher, civilians are said to be surviving on grass and animal feed, with no access to medical supplies or grain. Churches and homes have been reduced to rubble.
Despite the worsening crisis, rights advocates say the international community has been largely silent. “This is more than a civil war,” one church leader remarked. “It is a campaign to erase Christianity from Sudan.”
