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Specifically, Natsios recommends the U.S. provide anti-aircraft weapons to South Sudan so it can defend itself against the daily bombings of civilian targets. Such action would force North Sudan back to the negotiating table. Recall that Samaritan’s Purse’s Franklin Graham recently called for U.S. airstrikes against the air bases in the north to send the message that Khartoum’s war crimes are not going unnoticed.

Our hope is that this continued pressure will force the Obama Administration to take seriously its responsibility in working towards a peaceful settlement in Sudan.

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To stop the war on South Sudan, the U.S. should send weapons

By Andrew S. Natsios, Published: May 11, 2012

North and South Sudan are at war. The reasons for the conflict are complex, but the solution is not: To stop the killing, the international community must arm South Sudan. Unlike interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States need not fire any shots. Just as we have provided weapons to support Israel but never put our own troops at risk, we can help bring peace to this region. We need only make sure that, for the North, attacking the South is a little bit harder than shooting fish in a barrel.

South Sudan is less than a year old. Its war with the North is the result of an imbalance of military power that has encouraged military adventurism. Omar al-Bashir, president of the North and a possible coup target, believes he can secure his future by bombing the South into submission instead of negotiating. For this reason, he has undertaken extensive bombing in South Sudanese civilian areas since January, killing hundreds — an act of war.

Although the South has a large, well-motivated ground army, it has no air force or antiaircraft weapons to defend its people. Southern leaders believe Bashir and his generals plan to invade, occupy oil fields and install a puppet government that will give them control over oil revenue lost when the South became independent.

The only way to end the North’s bullying and foster peace talks is to give the South the right tools: American antiaircraft weapons. If the United States provides the materiel, the South can end the North’s bombing campaign. Most Northern air force pilots are mercenaries — if they start taking heavy losses, they will leave Sudan quickly.

To read the rest of the article, please click here.

Now at war again.

There are many facets to this conflict which must be probed to fully understand the current situation and what it means for the future of the region.

The first thing to know is that the international community and much of the mainstream press do not fully grasp what is happening right now in Sudan. For instance, when we read articles about the present conflict, we are told that South Sudan has “invaded” its northern neighbor. This is simply not true.

In this article, we will seek to address several key points that will hopefully give you the big picture of the current crisis and then let you know how you can get involved to help.

This 9-year old boy received a quarter-sized shrapnel wound to the head when 7 Antinovs dropped 10 bombs on the village of Kauda in Southern Kordofan.

The CPA

In 2005, the war between the National Islamic Front (NIF) government in Khartoum and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) came to an official end with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This agreement was, in part, brokered by the US, which became a custodian of the agreement to make sure each party kept their end of the bargain.

The CPA gave southern Sudan virtual autonomy with the option for secession in 2011. The agreement also called for border demarcation between the two sections of Sudan. Finally, the agreement put in place measures to give marginalized groups in the north, including Southern Kordofan (the Nuba Mountains) and the Blue Nile regions, more representation and influence in Khartoum.

From the very outset, the NIF government (now renamed the National Congress Party– NCP) violated terms of the CPA. Border demarcation was never seriously addressed. In fact, the NCP proceeded to “grab” land that was traditionally part of the south. One of the areas “claimed” by the NCP was a place call Heglig — more on that later.

Sudan dictator, Omar al-Bashir, is head of the National Congress Party and an indicted war criminal.

It became obvious early on during the “peace” that the terrorists in Khartoum were engaging in one of their old tricks. They were simply using diplomacy to distract the world from their real focus and priorities at the time. In 2005, that focus was Darfur — a large area left out of the CPA. While Sudan Dictator Omar al Bashir smiled and shook hands in Naivasha, Kenya during the CPA negotiations, his butcher, Ahmed Haroun, was busy slaughtering the people of Darfur by the hundreds of thousands.

The War in the North

In early 2011, the NCP regime was waking up to the realization that the party would soon be over. In January, the south voted overwhelmingly to secede from the north. Official independence was set for July 9th, and South Sudan would take more than 80 percent of the oil reserves in Sudan with it.

A rising national debt, coupled with the inevitable demise of most oil revenues sent the Sudanese Pound into a nosedive. Shortages were everywhere, and protests broke out in the streets of Khartoum. It looked like the “Arab Spring” was headed to Sudan. Meanwhile, the Darfur genocide had earned the NCP several indictments by the International Criminal Court, including the dictator Bashir himself– indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity. And to make matters worse, elections in the northern state of Southern Kordofan were scheduled for May, and it was looking bad for the NCP candidate.

Southern Kordofan comprises the largest border with South Sudan, and is home to the Nuba Mountains, an area long allied to the South. But Bashir had problems in all the border areas. Long marginalized, the regions of Abyei, Nuba Mountains, and Blue Nile State were not only sympathetic to South Sudan, they contained the rest of the North’s precious oil reserves.

This man suffered severe burns over most of his body as a result of a bombing in his village in the Nuba Mountains.

With the border demarcation and oil sharing arrangements with South Sudan still not resolved, and the clock ticking to southern independence, Bashir had to act fast.

In May 2011, Bashir sent his army into the oil rich Abyei region. In an international arbitration ruling, the NCP won the rights to retain Abyei as part of northern territory. But Bashir didn’t want just legal concessions. He wanted to remove the southern-sympathizing population out of the entire region. So he sent in the army and swept the region clear of its black population. The UN estimated that 100,000 people were cleared out of Abyei in a matter of weeks.

The attack on Abyei corresponded with the elections in Southern Kordofan, which were a recognized fraud to any serious observers. The “winning” NCP candidate was none other than Ahmed Haroun, indicted war criminal and butcher of Darfur.

Haroun ordered the Nuba people to disarm and anyone affiliated with the SPLA to leave the state. This order was another violation of the CPA, which specified that SPLA troops could remain in the marginalized areas like the Nuba Mountains through August of 2011. When the leadership of the SPLA refused to comply, Haroun used this as a pretext to invade the capitol city of Kadugli. Accounts from Kadugli told of a mass slaughter of anyone who was ethnically Nuban or Christian.

Women and children avoid the daily bombings by hiding in the mountains.

Bashir intentionally instigated this new military campaign in the north prior to the independence of South Sudan, because he knew the Southerners would not interfere or do anything to endanger their own peaceful secession. 

On July 9th, South Sudan seceded amidst great celebration and world attention. Meanwhile, their old allies in the north were fighting for their lives.

Blue Nile State Governor Malek Agar

In August, the war spread as Bashir sent his forces to attack the Blue Nile State. The Governor of Blue Nile, Malek Agar, was also the chairman of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement – North (SPLM-N), the largest political opposition to the NCP in the north. With the South official gone, Bashir’s party decided to eliminate all opposition and become effectively a one-party state.

Bashir’s purpose in attacking these border areas was clearly to drive out the indigenous black populations which Bashir sees as a threat to his autocratic reign. Ethnic cleansing is not new in Sudan, but has been an integral part of the “Arabization” and “Islamization” policy of Bashir’s party for more than 20 years.

All humanitarian access to the conflict zones was prohibited by Bashir. The excuse was that Bashir’s forces did not want humanitarian assistance to go to the rebels. But the reality is Bashir wants to empty the land of “undesirables.” He even told his soldiers to “take out the garbage” in the Nuba Mountains.

Adding Insult to Injury

After launching his attacks in the border regions, Bashir ordered cross-border incursions into South Sudan using his air force to bomb fleeing civilians from the conflict zones. The Sudan Air Force did not focus on SPLA targets, but rather chose civilian areas to spread terror and to support his policy of ethnic cleansing.

These multiple border violations were greeted with criticism by the international community. But since the US and UN’s official stance on the Sudan crisis is that they do not support regime change, the terrorist government in Khartoum is still treated as a legitimate government even though it has killed more than 3 million of its own citizens and may represent 10 percent of the population.

Even though its sovereignty was being regularly violated in the closing months of 2011, the government of South Sudan was playing it cool. This changed with the new year, when it was discovered that Bashir’s government had stolen $ billions worth of oil from the pipeline running through its territory.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir responded by ordering an immediate shutdown of every oil well in South Sudan. This extraordinary action coincided with another significant event in the conflict zone that represented a “game changer” in Sudan.

The Sudan Revolutionary Front

Opposition to the NCP government in Khartoum traditionally has come from several organizations and movements that represent various marginalized groups in Sudan. The largest opposition is the SPLM. But there are many other “alphabet soup” groups that oppose the autocratic policies of Bashir, including the DUP, SLA-Minni, SLA-Nur, Umma, PCP, SCP, the Beja Congress, etc.

Most of these groups have been chiefly concerned about their own grievances and never took up offense for other marginalized groups. This changed on November 12, 2011, when most of the marginalized organizations joined forces to create the Sudan Revolutionary Front. The SRF represents a united front in North Sudan against Bashir’s government. The very existence of this coalition, which is made up of extremely diverse groups, many of whom were previous enemies, shows how fragile Bashir’s grip on power has become. Bashir has been a master of “divide and conquer.” But now his enemies are united around one overriding goal– regime change.

The Heglig “Invasion”

The formation of the Sudan Revolutionary Front coincided with many victories on the ground by rebel forces. Bashir’s response was to fight more in the area where he is challenged the least: the skies. Bashir’s “rain of terror” from the sky completely closed the airspace to humanitarian flights. Moreover, Bashir not only ordered more air strikes in South Sudan, he even sent his army across the border to attack SPLA troops he claims are fighting in the north.

Finally, South Sudan had enough. In April, 2012, President Kiir ordered his troops to take the disputed area of Heglig. Bashir went ballistic. His government immediately called upon the intentional community to condemn the “invasion.” Sadly, the US and UN complied, demanding that Kiir withdraw his forces.

There’s just one problem with the allegations of invasion — they are completely false. The Heglig region is traditionally part of South Sudan. In fact, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, signed in 2005, used the borders defined in 1956 at the time of Sudan’s independence. This map shows Heglig in South Sudan.

PPF’s Brad Phillips has personally visited the Heglig region several times. Ten years ago, when Bashir’s forces were sweeping through the region to clear it of people so that oil firms could come in and begin exploiting the reserves, he conducted several outreaches to the refugees with PPF partner, The Voice of the Martyrs. Heglig at that time was known as Panthou in Panrieng County in the Western Upper Nile region of South Sudan.

It was Bashir’s troops, in contrast, who invaded Heglig during the Interim Period of peace following the signing of the CPA. Even though this area was populated with South Sudanese and had been traditionally part of the South, Bashir did not want to give up wells that pumped more than $10 million worth of oil per day from the area.

But few people in the mainstream media know this history, and fewer bureaucrats in the US State Department and the UN seem to care.

Conclusion

After 7 years of relative peace, north and south Sudan are now at war again. For those of us who know the history of this conflict and the politics of the region, it is obvious what needs to happen in the international community. The die has been cast. The South has decided to defend its young sovereignty. The marginalized groups in Sudan have united and are engaged with South Sudan in a bloody struggle against a monstrous regime which the intentional community continues to coddle.

Why are the US and UN refusing to support regime change and begin serious meetings with the leadership of the marginalized groups in northern Sudan, as well as with policy makers in South Sudan, to discuss the inevitable collapse of Bashir and his thugs in Khartoum? Transition from one regime to another can be messy if not planned ahead of time. And many experts on the Sudan crisis believe the US is blowing an opportunity to help establish a free government in Khartoum by continuing to deal with violent, tyrannical, yet undeniably terminal leaders in Khartoum. The international community must proactively plan for the New Sudan.

But PPF is not a political organization. We focus on helping people, not framing policy. Brad Phillips recently returned from Juba where he met with ministry partners who are working together to bring relief and encouragement to the refugees of this new war.

PPF will continue to do its part in helping the suffering and persecuted, but we need your help in this work. Please share this article with your friends, family, church groups, and anyone you know who cares about the persecuted church in Sudan. Please encourage them to visit www.savethenuba.com or www.persecutionproject.org, to learn how they can engage in active compassion with us. PPF is your bridge to bring love and encouragement to the persecuted. We encourage you to continue using this bridge for God’s glory and in love for our brothers and sisters in Africa.

After a recent trip to the Nuba mountains, Franklin concludes that the appropriate course of action for the US to take would be to destroy the airbases in El Obeid which are being used to wage an aerial terror campaign against innocent women and children of the Nuba.

Read the Washington Times Story here. 

I commend Franklin Graham for taking this bold stand, and I pray that everyone who wants to stop the current genocide in Sudan will join Franklin in pressing the Obama Administration to take this action to protect innocent lives in Sudan.     

Please visit savethenuba.com to learn more about how you can stay informed and get active for the persecuted. 

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GRAHAM: Bombing Sudan’s air bases only way to protect innocents

By Franklin Graham 

Photo courtesy of Samaritan's Purse

I have seen what happens when the world turns its back and looks the other way. For 20 years I have worked in Sudan, helping its people struggle through the horrors of starvation and murderous attacks. During Sudan’s civil war, the people in the south were being butchered. Shockingly, it took the deaths of more than 2 million before the world finally called it genocide.

When President George W. Bush came to office, he didn’t look the other way. Instead, he engaged all parties and forced them to sit down to negotiate what we hoped would be an end to the violence. Those discussions resulted in the agreement that led to the independence of South Sudan.

To read the rest of Franklin Graham’s article, please click here. 

Please forward this article to your friends and family and encourage them to visit savethenuba.com to find out how they can get involved to help the victims of genocide and religious persecution.  

Sudan, the UN and the concept of “Illegality”

By Anne Bartlett

A curious thing has happened on the diplomatic road to resolving the crisis over Heglig: the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, finally discovered his voice and declared the occupation of the border zone by the South Sudan as “illegal” and an infringement of sovereignty. I say “curious” because Mr. Ban has been rather less forthcoming about all manner of other “illegalities” the length and breadth of Sudan: bombing; extra-judicial killing; torture; mass graves; the displacement of people from their land; the movement of illegal populations from other countries onto land owned by Sudanese citizens; election fraud and demographic re-engineering; the cutting off of humanitarian aid and starvation of whole sectors of the population. The list is of course endless, but I think this shortened version makes the point.

(Continue reading by clicking here)

Dr. Anne Bartlett is Professor of Sociology and Director of the International Studies program at the University of San Francisco. She is also a Director of the Darfur Reconciliation and Development Organization (www.drdoafrica.org). She may be reached at: albartlett@usfca.edu

Scandalous International Hypocrisy on Sudan

By Eric Reeves

April 23, 2012 – The stench of hypocrisy and expediency is in the air wherever one turns in assessing international responses to recent events in Sudan. The deeply imbalanced reactions to the seizure of Heglig by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) give us our starkest picture to date of how selective and tendentious the world is prepared to be in creating a narrative for the present multiple crisis that threaten war in Sudan and South Sudan. And in their attempts to achieve a factitious “even-handedness,” various actors—including the UN, the U.S., the AU, and the EU—have encouraged Khartoum to believe that it has somehow gained the diplomatic, even moral upper hand. It is difficult to imagine a more dangerous response to have encouraged, and the currently ongoing offensive military actions against South Sudan by the regime’s Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) stand as stark confirmation.

Notably, international reaction has worked to encourage the most vehemently bellicose language on the part of Field Marshall and President Omar al-Bashir, who has very recently declared that (northern) Sudan is now essentially at war with South Sudan, and that Khartoum’s military ambition is to destroy the “insect” government in Juba. We have heard such language of racial contempt many times from al-Bashir’s regime; in this instance it is difficult not to recall the infamously ubiquitous calls in Rwanda in 1994 for the destruction of the Tutsi “cockroaches.”

To read the rest of Reeves’ article, please click here.

Tom White, Executive Director for The Voice of the Martyrs, died suddenly on Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at VOM’s headquarters in Bartlesville, OK. The Voice of the Martyrs has been a long-time ministry partner with Persecution Project Foundation, and Tom’s leadership will be greatly missed.

The Voice of the Martyrs issued the following statement on their website:

It is with great sadness that The Voice of the Martyrs announces the death of our Executive Director, Tom White.

Tom led The Voice of the Martyrs for more than 20 years, including years of incredible growth in the ministry’s reach to support and work with persecuted Christians and to share their stories with the American Church. Prior to taking leadership of the ministry he worked alongside VOM’s founders, Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand.

All of our hearts are heavy at this loss, and most of all heavy for Ofelia, Tom’s loyal help-mate through years of ministry, including 17 months he spent in a Cuban prison, and for his children and grandchildren.

During the last six weeks the profile of Sudan in the international media has been raised  as the North-South conflict escalates.  It is some comfort for those whose lives are at stake to know that their plight and suffering is not going unnoticed by the world. Even more encouraging is the knowledge that Christians the world over have been mobilized to pray.  Heightened awareness aided by technology to put a real-time spotlight on the evil events as they are unfolding in Sudan.  This has forced the U.S. and other governments to go on record and react. The heat is being turned up on Khartoum.

Bashir: "If anyone lifts a finger against Sudan, we will cut it off."

In response to the tougher rhetoric coming out of Washington against the terrorist-led government in Khartoum, the regime is responding with rage on both military and diplomatic fronts. The government of Sudan promised to seal off the border with South Sudan and even the Minister of “International Cooperation” threatened to expel the American consulate in Khartoum if the US continued to warn of a developing famine in Southern Kordofan State. For good measure, Khartoum launched more air strikes across the border into South Sudan, targeting refugees from the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile State who have fled the violence.

At a recent rally with his troops, Sudan Dictator, Omar al Bashir, proudly mocked the US and said he did not fear the Americans. “We’ve been tested by the Americans for 20 years,”  boasted Bashir. Bashir then defended Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein, his Minister of Defense, who recently joined Bashir on the ICC’s list of indicted war criminals. “If anyone raises a finger against Sudan, we will cut it off!” shouted Bashir. “If anyone raises his eyes towards Sudan, we will pluck them out.”

This aggressive and violent response by Bashir doesn’t make him any more friends in the international community, and actually highlights the arrogance and irrational behavior of a leader whose days are numbered.

But the reality is that Bashir’s comments have more truth in them than I would like to acknowledge. Despite the warnings of the escalating humanitarian crisis in the Nuba Mountains by U.S. Permanent Ambassador to the UN, Dr. Susan Rice, as well as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the official U.S. position continues to be one of indecision and ambiguity. 

In mid-March, celebrity activist George Clooney passionately appealed for action as he testified before a U.S. Senate hearing on the humanitarian crisis in the Nuba Mountains and warned that the Nuba was becoming like Darfur. Clooney was later arrested (along with his father) for protesting outside the Sudan Embassy in Washington.

Clooney’s testimony came in the wake of a flurry of new media interest in Sudan. The New York Times, NBC, and Al Jazeera English have all published fresh stories on the issue. With all this renewed attention, one could conclude it is becoming easier and easier for the politicians in Washington to do the right thing in Sudan.

Enter Princeton Lyman. The lead U.S. diplomat representing the Obama Administration on all things Sudan.

Ambassador Lyman, also spoke before the U.S. Senate the same day as George Clooney. But sadly, the testimony of Ambassador Lyman seemed to reassure the indicted in Khartoum that the U.S. posture toward Sudan will remain essentially toothless… that we currently have no intention of following through on recent threats to take unilateral action to open a humanitarian corridor in the Nuba Mountains.

A few days prior to his testimony, Amb. Lyman traveled to Addis Ababa to meet with Sudanese leaders of the Sudan Revolutionary Front (SRF) which is the alliance of marginalized groups in northern Sudan that includes the SPLM-N.  He traveled to personally and publicly let them know that the U.S. would not support them in their goal of regime change. It seems the U.S. is still hoping to reform the National Congress Party believing a “carrot and stick” approach will win the day and transform indicted war criminals into democrats.

Huh?

I am reminded of the words of the late Dr John Garang who said, “The National Congress Party is too deformed to be reformed.” Quite right.  But, somehow there are still some “experts” in government who fear regime change in Sudan. They argue that if Bashir goes someone really bad might replace him.

Apparently all the tough talk by Lyman, Rice and Clinton were empty threats.  All it took was an angry Bashir for the U.S. to tuck tail and run.

Unfortunately, it is this kind of diplomacy which sends the NCP the message that the U.S. is not serious. The NCP regime in Khartoum, which has killed more than 3 million people since 1989, only responds to strength. It will continue to use food as a weapon and specifically target groups for destruction based on their race and religion until it is removed from power.

Meanwhile the SRF SPLM-N, the primary rebel group fighting Khartoum in northern Sudan, continues to score major victories in the ground war. Most of Southern Kordofan is firmly controlled by the rebels. And Khartoum is sinking more and more of its already limited resources on military equipment to replace the arsenal that the SPLM-N has destroyed or “liberated.”

Commander Abdelaziz is leading the SPLM-N to many victories against the attacking northern troops.

Commander Abdelaziz Adam Al-Hilu, who leads the rebel alliance in the northern Sudan continues to make only one plea to the U.S. and international community: support a “No-Fly Zone” to protect civilians in Sudan from the daily bombings and open a corridor for humanitarian access. Abdelaziz and his allies have consistently said they don’t need or want military support from the West. He is leading a genuine ‘popular uprising.’ But he also points out that Bashir’s tactic is to target innocent civilians.  Bashir’s aim is to drive out or kill the Africans in the Nuba and Blue Nile.

Children are living in the rocks in the Nuba Mountains.

If we want to stop the genocide, now is the time to turn up the heat on Washington and let our representatives know we expect them to stand with the victims of genocide and take action before its too late. Appeasement has never saved lives. 

If you haven’t done so already, please visit savethenuba.com and find out what you can do to Get Active and help save lives in the Nuba.

After you do this, please forward the link to your friends or post it on Facebook to spread the word.

Thanks for your prayers and support for the persecuted in Sudan. I’ll keep you posted on developments.

The last several days in Sudan have been troubling but revealing.

On Monday, a series of border clashes took place in Unity State, South Sudan, between the northern SAF forces and the southern SPLA. The media reported that each side blamed the other for the attacks, but I want you to be aware of what is really happening.

Sudan dictator, Omar al Bashir, is an indicted war criminal. He is chiefly responsible for the deaths of more than 3 million of his own people. Moreover, Bashir is a stereotypical leader of a classic African kleptocratic “thugocracy” where the people and resources are recklessly exploited to benefit the leader and his cronies.

But recent times have not been good for Bashir and his gang. Last July, Bashir’s party officially lost control of 80-85 percent of the nation’s oil reserves when South Sudan formally seceded, becoming the newest nation on earth. To secure what was left of the oil in northern Sudan, Bashir launched a vicious war of genocide and ethnic cleansing in May, 2011, in the oil-rich region of Abyei and then the Nuba Mountains in June, 2011.

A few months later, Bashir launched an attack on another dissident region in the north: the Blue Nile State.

While Bashir was busy satisfying his bloodlust, his nation’s economy began to collapse. Loss of oil revenues resulted in the national currency taking a nosedive, and people took to the streets to protest rising prices and shortages of basic necessities. The national debt then reached $36 billion, an unfathomable sum. Bashir’s party, the NCP, now has trouble keeping some of its leading members in line. Just this week, a major opposition newspaper was shut down by Bashir’s thugs.

And to make matters worse for Bashir, his army is taking a beating in the field. After launching air and ground attacks in South Sudan over the last week, Bashir’s SAF army has been routed. South Sudan’s military now occupies key border areas of the north, and the rebels in the Nuba Mountains continue to win victory after victory in Southern Kordofan.

Before the latest round of attacks on Monday, Bashir was invited to South Sudan’s Capitol of Juba to participate in talks on the disputes involving oil revenues. But with so many things working against him, Bashir knew he’d be negotiating from a position of weakness. A few days later, Bashir ordered airstrikes in South Sudan and the talks were indefinitely postponed. Convenient.

Although there is rhetoric from both sides vowing to avoid all-out war, the reality is that the war has already started. I believe Bashir needs a war with South Sudan to provide the artificial unity to keep his fragile government together. South Sudan is exercising enormous restraint. Besides, with oil wells currently shut down, the government in Juba can scarcely afford to get involved in an expensive and protracted confrontation with Khartoum.

The silver lining of these war clouds is that it illustrates to me the desperate situation for the dictator Bashir. This is a regime that is living on borrowed time. But a wounded predator is still very dangerous, and tens of thousands of lives hang in the balance in north and south Sudan.

Please pray that peace will be restored and that an area which has known almost nothing but war since 1956 will be given an opportunity to grow and develop in an environment of peace.

And please pray that God will continue to use PPF to bring physical help and spiritual hope to the victims of persecution.

Watching developments in the two Sudans is like watching a time bomb tick away.

The framework of “relative” peace is unraveling. South Sudan shut off all oil production in response to the theft of $1 billion worth of oil by northern Sudan (ending at least 350,000 barrels of production per day) and the outrageous extortion terms of $32 per barrel in transit fees demanded by Khartoum. Southern officials said they prefer to keep their oil safe in the ground rather than watch it be stolen by their old rivals. This action represents a loss to the South Sudan government of more than $35 million per day.

South Sudan is in its infancy and lacks the most basic infrastructure. Consequently, it is more dependent on oil than Khartoum. At present, 98 percent of South Sudan revenue comes from oil. Juba has already announced severe budget cuts to handle this catastrophic loss of revenue. But the longer this game of chicken goes on, there is a greater possibility of a return to war, or even the total collapse of the world’s newest state.

Khartoum has the upper hand unless the South finds a way to finance its operation using oil as collateral. Unfortunately for the South, the biggest challenge seems to be that the value of its proven reserves may not be worth the cost of financing construction of a new pipeline.

To the north, the NCP government in Khartoum is scrambling to diversify its income sources. The government already announced it has exported $400 million worth of gold, which exists in abundance. Moreover, China has given Khartoum a five-year extension on its debt payments. And the Obama administration has offered Khartoum debt forgiveness conditional on further implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. This takes some pressure off of Sudan dictator Omar al-Bashir as he faces internal threats to his power base due to a massive unsustainable debt of $36 billion and now 80% less oil revenue.

Meanwhile, the military battles rage on in Darfur, Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile States as Khartoum attempts to subdue or exterminate its indigenous African populations. Daily bombardment of civilian areas and economic isolation is widening the humanitarian crisis and causing a flood of refugees to pour across into South Sudan.

Dr. Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Ambassador to the United Nations, forecast that the crisis in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile regions will reach a Level 4 Humanitarian Crisis before the end of March, 2012 — affecting the lives of an estimated 500,000 people unless a massive intervention by the international community takes place.

But Omar al-Bashir continues to block all access to foreign NGOs, raising the stakes and calling the bluff of his adversaries – sanctions, ICC indictments and diplomatic pressure notwithstanding.

South Sudan has entered negotiations with Kenya and Ethiopia about pipeline projects to ship Southern crude to more friendly ports. But building pipelines and refineries takes time – time which Juba simply does not have. If and when this time bomb explodes is anyone’s guess, but the challenges that lay ahead in 2012 for Sudan appear daunting.

All of this troubling news in Sudan is a reminder to us of the urgent need to pray. I believe God uses the many difficulties He sends our way to train us and also to remind us of our continued dependence on Him. I know the churches in Sudan, especially those undergoing persecution, are experiencing more intimate fellowship with God. Please make it a habit to pray for this ministry and for those we serve for strength, courage and perseverance.

As a ministry, PPF has been uniquely positioned to serve as a bridge between communities of believers in the USA and the persecuted in Sudan. Your part in this work is essential and appreciated.

Delivering crisis relief in remote areas such as the Nuba or Southern Darfur, providing clean water, building and supporting medical clinics, supporting discipleship and development projects, or being an advocate on behalf of the persecuted are some of the many ways that you are making a difference as you partner with this ministry.

As God continues to provide through your generosity, we will continue to do all we can to serve the persecuted and suffering in Sudan.