The US is working to limit “negative Islamist influence” within Sudan’s government, an official has told The National, as testimonies and investigations point to escalating attacks on the country’s Christian minority.
Asked about reports documenting drone strikes, church demolitions and intimidation, a US State Department representative said Washington has seen “significant backsliding” in Sudan’s respect for fundamental freedoms since the conflict erupted in April 2023.
“This backsliding especially impacts Sudan’s oppressed ethnic and religious populations, including Christians,” the official said.
Sudan was designated a Country of Particular Concern under former president Omar Al Bashir, and the US remains focused on preventing the return of institutionalised persecution of Christians and the return of Islamic extremists who might further breach religious freedom, the official added.
“To safeguard US interests, to include the protection of religious freedom in Sudan, US efforts seek to limit negative Islamist influence in Sudan’s government,” affirmed the official, adding that the US is working to “curtail Iran’s regional activities that have contributed to regional destabilisation, conflict, and civilian suffering”.
The comments follow an investigation by Sky News Arabia, featuring testimonies from across Sudan of attacks on Christian communities, amid a wider pattern of abuses by both the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces.
One of the deadliest incidents occurred on December 25, last year, when SAF drones struck a Christmas gathering in Jaloud village in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, killing and wounding 31 people, according to witnesses. The area was not an active front line but a religious gathering in a region with a large Christian population.
Weeks earlier, drones hit a health centre in Komo, also in South Kordofan, killing at least 46, including students and children, residents said. Witnesses reported repeated strikes as civilians attempted to evacuate the wounded.
Kelsey Zorzi, the director of advocacy for global religious freedom at the Alliance Defending Freedom International, described the unfolding situation in Sudan should not just as a civil war and humanitarian emergency, but also as a crucial test of religious freedom and broader human rights.
“Before the war began, Sudan was widely seen as one of the most promising examples of a country making meaningful reforms to improve religious freedom,” she told The National. “It would be devastating for both Sudan and the wider region if that hard-won progress were ultimately reversed.”
Diminished western influence
Ms Zorzi noted that western governments' ability to influence events in Sudan is now quite constrained.
“This is deeply concerning given the credible risk that Islamist actors could reassert control and seek to reshape the country along exclusionary and repressive lines,” she said. “If that scenario materialises, external leverage will diminish even further.”
Christians, estimated at about two million people or four per cent of Sudan’s population, saw improved freedoms during the post-2019 transition. Those gains have largely reversed since the 2021 coup and subsequent war, with churches demolished, communities displaced and little accountability for abuses committed by all sides.
Islamist networks, including figures linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and the former ruling National Congress Party, are playing an increasingly influential role within the power structure surrounding SAF chief Gen Abdel Fattah Al Burhan, according to Western officials and Sudanese experts.
Islamists have also re-emerged as a key backbone of the SAF war effort, leveraging manpower, organisation and combat experience to expand their influence inside the security apparatus.
Tens of thousands have been killed since the war broke out. At least 12 million have been displaced and 25 million – about half of the population – are facing hunger with pockets of famine emerging, mostly in western Sudan. International calls for a humanitarian truce have failed to halt the fighting.
