FaithWorld

Churches in Sudan’s mainly Muslim north are trying to reassure their dwindling congregations that they will be safe after the south splits, but Christians fearing repression are still leaving in their droves.

The main churches in the north are resolute they will remain open despite the expected secession of the south in a plebiscite expected to split Africa’s largest country.

(Photo: Devotees from southern part of Sudan attend a Christmas mass at Catholic Church in Khartoum December 25, 2010. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

Southerners are mostly Christian or follow traditional religions. The north has been under Islamic law since 1983.

“Even if there is just one Christian left in the north we will be here because the shepherd cannot leave his flock,” said Catholic Quintino Okeny Joseph, Vicar-General of the Archdiocese of Khartoum.

The week-long referendum is the culmination of a 2005 north- south peace deal which ended Africa’s longest civil war, fought between Sudan’s mainly Muslim and Arab north, and the south.

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