The persecution of Christians in Sudan’s civil war is “appalling” and has been ignored by the international community, a British MP has warned, following a Sky News Arabia investigation into the escalating attacks by the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Edward Leigh told The National that atrocities against Christians in Africa receive “far too little attention” after the report disclosed that the minority group of two million in Sudan was suffering in drone strikes, church demolitions and intimidation.
“The reality is that the lives of Christians in sub-Saharan Africa are treated as cheap,” said the Conservative MP, who has served for more than 40 years. “There are extremist groups that are simply setting out to kill them and it is absolutely appalling.”
The investigation adds to a growing list of allegations of atrocities committed by both sides in Sudan’s war, with the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces accused of abuses since fighting began in 2023.
The Sky News Arabia report found that on Christmas Day, SAF drones struck a gathering of Christians in the village of Jaloud in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, killing and wounding 31 people, according to witnesses. The area was not a military position or an active front line.
In another attack, in November, drones struck a health centre in Komo, South Kordofan, used mainly by schoolchildren, reportedly killing 46, including eight children.
A Komo resident said the strike occurred without warning. “People ran in all directions, there were civilians injured everywhere, including students who had come from school,” she said.
Bernard Jenkin, another senior Tory MP, warned that Christians are being swept up in extreme violence. “Amid the general chaos in Sudan, Christians are suffering unacceptable attacks,” he told The National.
He added that the breakdown of order had left their communities vulnerable. “Christians seem to be particularly prone to persecution and we need to keep drawing attention to this.”
While religious freedom improved during the civilian-led transitional period after 2019, the 2021 military coup and subsequent war have renewed concern over minority protection.
Mr Leigh, the UK parliament’s longest-serving MP, called for renewed international pressure. “We need to get western governments to take it seriously, applying pressure on local governments to actually do something about it which too often does not appear to be the case,” he said.
But he cautioned against overstating Britain’s ability to act: “We’ve got to be realistic that our influence is very limited. We don’t have the power or the capacity to intervene, unless you are prepared to intervene militarily.”
Mr Jenkin, a former shadow defence secretary, suggested that international pressure could make a difference if applied consistently.
“There is evidence that when the West has called out the worst kinds of judicially sanctioned atrocities, lives have been saved,” he said.
“The West must give as much attention to Sudan as it does to Gaza, because of the scale of atrocities being committed there.”
Between March and December 2025, at least 13 churches were demolished in Khartoum and surrounding areas after the SAF regained control of the capital, forcing more than 35,000 Christians to flee, according to local estimates.
Mr Leigh says diplomatic pressure matters, and Britain might have some leverage due to the £146 million ($195,000) in humanitarian aid that it provided Sudan in the last year.
International attention will refocus on Sudan when Britain and Germany jointly convene a major conference on Sudan in Berlin in April, the conflict’s third anniversary, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Friday.
Writing in the Independent newspaper, she vowed that Britain will use its presidency of the UN Security Council next month “to prevent Sudan again slipping down the international agenda”.
Ms Cooper said she was engaging with regional partners to find a path forward to a breakthrough being championed by Washington. “The US have been working to get a truce and wider plan in place – drawing together the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt (the ‘Quad’).”
Those efforts focus on pursuing a humanitarian truce and the permanent end to hostilities. “This can only come through greater pressure on the warring parties – crucially from their regional backers.” she said.
The international community also has to prevent more atrocities by either side, Ms Cooper added, and Britain is working to “hold perpetrators to account” for the atrocities.
