Islamist Efforts To Seize Christian School In Sudan Continue Amid War Displacement

Key Facts

Published: October 2, 2025 Location: OMDURMAN, SUDAN Source: Open Doors, Morningstar News

• Islamists attempted to seize a Christian school in Omdurman, Sudan, where displaced believers are sheltering, reviving fears of renewed religious repression.
• The Evangelical School of Sudan, long targeted by Muslim businessmen, has faced repeated attacks since the Omar al-Bashir regime, with past violence leaving a church elder dead.
• Sudan’s ongoing civil war between RSF and SAF has intensified persecution of Christians, with churches looted, believers displaced, and the nation rising to number 5 on the Open Doors 2025 World Watch List.

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

OMDURMAN, SUDAN (Worthy News) – Islamists are trying to take over a Christian school in Sudan despite hundreds of people displaced by war seeking refuge there, Christians said Thursday.

Three men reportedly linked to an Islamic business interest forced their way into the Evangelical School of Sudan in Omdurman, across the Nile River from Khartoum, the capital, according to Christian sources familiar with the situation.

The intruders broke the headmaster’s office door and threatened to seize the property of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) by force, according to an area church leader whose name was withheld for security reasons.

“They ordered displaced Christians to leave, warning they would take the facility,” the church leader was quoted as saying by Christian news agency Morning Star News (MSN).

The school, long targeted by Muslim businessmen with alleged support from police, has suffered repeated attacks since the regime of deposed President Omar al-Bashir, Christians said.

FATALLY STABBED

In April 2017, SPEC elder Younan Abdullah Kambu was fatally stabbed while defending women at the compound during an attempted takeover, according to MSN. Another elder, Ayoub Kamama, was also stabbed while trying to disarm an attacker.

The renewed assault comes amid the wider civil war between Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which erupted in April 2023.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 11.9 million people, according to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Both the RSF and SAF—militaries with Islamist roots—have been accused of targeting Christians, shelling churches, looting religious compounds, and accusing displaced believers of siding with their rivals.

Open Doors, a Christian advocacy group, noted in its 2025 World Watch List that “Christians of all backgrounds are trapped in the chaos, unable to flee. Churches are shelled, looted, and occupied by the warring parties.”

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REVERSALS

Sudan once showed signs of opening after the ouster of Bashir in 2019, when apostasy laws—making abandoning Islam punishable by death—were rescinded and labeling groups as “infidels” was outlawed.

But the October 25, 2021, military coup led by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo revived fears of re-imposed Islamic repression, Christians explained.

While presenting themselves abroad as pro-democracy figures, both men have deep Islamist backgrounds. Disagreements over how quickly to integrate the RSF into the army derailed Sudan’s planned transition back to civilian rule in 2023.

The U.S. State Department removed Sudan from its Countries of Particular Concern list in 2019 and later from its Special Watch List in December 2020. But rights monitors say persecution has since surged, with Sudan ranked number 5 on the Open Doors 2025 World Watch List of 50 nations where it says Christians face the most severe persecution, up from number 8 in 2024.

Sudan is home to an estimated 2 million Christians, roughly 4.5 percent of its population of 43 million. The September 3 assault is the latest sign of pressure facing Christians in Omdurman and beyond in the Islamic nation. Local believers say displaced Christians already face hunger, insecurity, and violence — and now fear that even their schools and churches could fall into Islamist hands.

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