Statement by Rafat Samir Mussad, the chair of the Community Council of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, read at a demonstration in Khartoum on 14 April, 2019:
Firstly, we commend and appreciate those who sacrificed their time, money and even their lives…because there is no greater love than sacrificing own life for others.
Beloved fellow Sudanese and humans
Over 2,000 years ago, Christ led a revolution against injustice, slavery, division and hatred…our Christ is the revolution. He called for freedom, peace, justice and for a better life…..Freedom form the tyranny of sin and the old useless rituals, (bringing) peace with God and with ourselves, a justice obtained through his precious blood and better life for all in earth and in heavens. Christ didn’t come for a certain people or sect, his revolution touched the heart of a minister of Kandake the queen of Kush, he believed in what he saw and witnessed and returned home with a new faith; that is how the Christian Kingdoms in Sudan started.
But after 2,000 years we are facing a sad and painful reality; as Sudanese followers of Christ we are hurt because the (past) regime treats us as a bunch of foreign spies working to destroy our homeland and as if there is no place for us here….but we [do not] feel abandoned from the love and support of our fellow Sudanese people. Persecuted- our places of worship are being seized and destroyed but not in despair, hoping for a better future and better Sudan for all. Persecuted, our families are displaced and killed but not perished [sic] because our God provides solutions and offers mercy even in death.
My beloved fellow Sudanese and humans, Our carelessness in the past has been destructive to our nation and threatening to our unique- diversity. Some tried to change our tolerant and loving Sudanese traditions and values and replace it with their own values that are based on division, hatred and conflict. But we thank God for the awakening of our conscience during this revolution. As we walk together in the spirit of the revolution to have our rights back, we must not behave against our conscience and not to be drawn low by those who believe in blood, violence and hatred. We are not like them, we must conduct our struggle with the highest level of dignity, humanity and self- control.
This is not a time for compromise or “pain killers” or “gradual change”, this is a time to show a true mutual will to achieve and implement democracy. This is a time to move away from the trenches of religious and ethnic discrimination and head towards an inclusive and unifying Sudanese national identity for all of us. This is the time to open the door for equal opportunities and better life for all. We must make a covenant that we will not withdraw or accept anything less than a new Sudan ruled by humanity and citizenship.
My beloved fellow Sudanese and humans, Let us stick to our values and build our new Sudan based on love and selflessness, putting others first and treating them the way we would like them to treat us. Let us agree on a freedom that is not dedicated to cover up for evil and wickedness, but freedom of thought, of speech, of choice and expression, religious freedom for all.
Let us work towards peace, built on reconciliation, let us not take revenge for ourselves, my beloved, an “eye for an eye” would make everybody blind…..let us extend a hand of reconciliation towards who mistreated us and give them a chance to repent. He who admits his crimes and agrees to abandon them will have mercy, but he who covers his crimes will not succeed.
We have to rehabilitate them not destroy them, accepting them in our homeland which welcomes us all. Let us establish justice built upon a constitution we protect and implement, a constitution that treats us equally and eliminates tribalism and division from our hearts. God bless you and protect you, may the Lord have mercy upon you and make His path shine before you. God lift His face upon you and give you peace.
