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The Birth Pangs of a New Nation

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Our earlier chapter on “The Churches during the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium in the Sudan, 1899-1956” ended with the prophetic words of the historian P.M. Holt, which are worth repeating here as the setting for this final chapter of the story of the Church in the Nile Valley.

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“The independent Sudan is faced with a political, a social and a cultural situation each of great complexity. The integration of north and south, the harmonious combination of the educated elite and the unsophisticated tribesmen, the reconciliation of the Arab and Western cultural traditions – these are the basic problems which underlie the external phenomena of the political history. As in so many other situations in the modern world, time and patience are essential to their solution. Although the political leaders occupy the centre of the stage, the work of nation building depends less upon them than upon more obscure figures, the successors of the past saints and teachers, who since the time of Ghulamallah al-Rikabi and Dushayn have laboured to kindle the fire of learning and bring justice to a vast and remote land.”¹

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Much has been written about the political history of the Sudan since it became independent on1st January 1956. It is not the purpose of this book to recount in detail the tangled sequence of events which marked the political scene or to pass judgement upon them. We are here concerned with the survival and growth of the church during this period. And at once we are face with the question What do we mean by ‘the church'? It is too easy to speak only of the leaders of the church, the bishops and clergy, as though they were the church. But they are nothing without the people sitting in the pews, or on the ground under the trees. They are the church. And the church is not simply these people sitting in church on Sunday. It is these same people in their various occupations from Monday to Saturday, and as such the church is caught up in the political events which convulse their country. In reading the accounts of the political upheavals which have taken place in the Sudan, one notes that many of those who have played a leading part in the political events are the boys one taught at Loka or Akot or Panekar. We did not teach them political theory or train them in the basic techniques of guerrilla warfare. We taught them maths and geography and history and scripture. We played football with them and sang with them and worshipped with them. We lived with them in community and set a pattern of life based on Christian principles, the principles of love and peace and freedom. But when they left school, they played their part as citizens of the Sudan and as such they were inevitably caught up in the political struggle. The varying roles played by various members of the church can be illustrated in this way:

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(i) During the years 1963-1970, when the writer was Africa Secretary of the Church Missionary Society, he was visited by a British journalist who wanted to be briefed before going out to the Sudan to report on the Civil War of 1955-1972. When he returned to UK he reported how he had entered the Southern Sudan through Ethiopia and trekked through on foot until he encountered a guerrilla base deep in the bush. He described how the day began at dawn with a parade of the guerrilla fighters, led by an officer who proceeded to take morning prayers before the day's training began. On enquiry, the officer was named as the former Head Teacher of a Primary School, living out his Christian life as a guerrilla fighter in the same way as he had lived it as a Head Teacher.

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(ii) On the other hand, the incident was reported when, all the missionaries in the South having been expelled by the Khartoum Government, the Sudanese Pastor in Juba, who remained there throughout the troubles, prayed with his departing Bishop, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

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(iii) Or again, while the Sudanese Bishops were at the Lambeth Conference on 1988, the Bishop of Bor was in guerilla-held territory on the east bank of the Nile and so unable to attend the Lambeth Conference because he could not get out but was reportedly busy among his own people behind the battle line, preaching the Gospel, ministering to people living under war conditions and finding among them a ready response to his ministry.

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The Seeds of Unrest

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In the 1950s, both Church and State in the Sudan reached important milestones in their history which seemed to hold out great hopes for a period of growth and prosperity. The Church was led by the young and vigorous Oliver Allison, enthroned as Bishop in Khartoum Cathedral on 7th April 1953, assisted by the first Sudanese Bishop, Daniel Deng Atong, consecrated in Namirembe Cathedral, Uganda, on 15th May 1955. Bishop Gwynn College was established at Mundri, poised to turn out a steady stream of church leaders for the future. The State achieved independence on 1st January 1956 and hopes were hight that those who were entrusted with the responsibilities of leadership would prove equal to the task and would lead the nation into the ways of peace and prosperity. P.M. Holt use the words ‘integration', ‘harmonious combination' and ‘reconciliation' as the necessary watchwords of any Government entrusted with the unification of such a complex society as that which existed in the Sudan. Would the new Sudanese leaders have the necessary experience and wisdom to keep these basic overall aims in view as they wrestled with the day-to-day machinery of government?

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While history and geography indicated that the South and the North of the Sudan should be regarded as one country, this was not at all clear in the minds of the Southern Sudanese. While it is customary for many to blame the British administrators and the Christian missionaries for fostering a sense of mistrust between South and North, Southern leaders have been heard to express it differently. They would say that what the administrators and the missionaries did was to suppress a deep animosity which was already there and which erupted immediately they left. It was vital that the emphasis on integration, harmonious combination and reconciliation advised by P.M. Holt should find immediate and convincing expression from the start.

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The policy of the Sudan Government concerning the South was stated in August 1956 as follows: “The policy of the Sudan Government regarding the Southern Sudan is to act upon the fact that the peoples of the Southern Sudan are distinctively African and Negroid but that geography and economics combine (so far as can be seen at the present time) to render them inextricably bound for future development to the Middle Eastern and Arabicised Northern Sudan; and therefore to ensure that they should, by educational and economic development, be equipped to stand up for themselves in the future as socially and economically the equals of their partners in the Sudan of the future.”² And this was the policy presented to the Juba Conference of June 1947 and apparently agreed to by the Southern representatives at the Conference, though “there was widespread mistrust and fear of Northern intentions among the Southern members and a strong determination not to be dictated to by the North.”³ The next step was the setting up of a Legislative Assembly for the whole country in which the South would be represented. The Civil Secretary, Sir James Robertson, during the preparations for the setting up of the Assembly, stressed “the necessity of safeguarding the cultural and social integrity of the South against domination and mismanagement by a Government composed mainly of Northern Sudanese …”, but in fact such safeguards were never embodied in the final draft of the Executive Council and the Legislative Assembly Ordinance (1948),”⁴

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No Southerner was present in the discussions which took place in Cairo between Sudanese political parties and the Egyptian Government in 1952, leading to the signing of the Anglo-Egyptian Agreement on 12th February 1953, marking the end of the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium and the granting of Sudanese Independence, and this was taken by Southerners as “proof of a desire to belittle the South and ignore its emands.”⁵

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“When the results of the Sudanisation Committee were announced in October 1954, Southern suspicions, nurtured over 50 years, turned into hostility. The Sudanisation Committee, in the best tradition of the British Civil Service, allocated jobs and made promotions in accordance with seniority, experience and qualifications. As the posts held by the Southerners, at the time, were far fewer and more junior than those held by the Northerners, and as the Southerners lacked seniority, experience and qualifications, they were not much benefited by Sudanisation. Four Southerners were appointed Assistant District Commissioners and two as Mamurs; these were the highest posts then allocated to Southerners. This was not only disappointing to the educated Southerners but it was also looked upon as the changing of one master for another and a new colonisation by the North. It was also looked upon as a breach of promises made by the Northerners. The National Unionist Party President had already promised them that ‘not only shall priority be always given to the Southerners in the South but also the employment of the Southerner shall be greatly fostered in the North, especially in the higher ranks of the Central Government Service'. There were also promises of high posts in the Government previously occupied by British administrators and technicians in the South, and ‘that they will be District Commissioners, Governors, Deputy Governors and in general they will have a quarter of the jobs in the Sudan'. What the Southerners finally got was much less than they were promised or made to believe they would get. The Southern educated class was thus alienated and even the illiterate and ignorant class was becoming hostile to the Government authority and to the presence of the Northern administrators.”⁶

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In the years of the Legislative Assembly leading up to independence, genuine efforts were made to promote educational and economic development in the South. Subsidies to missionary education were increased, a united system of education was introduced, including the teaching of Arabic, and the first secondary school in the South was started in Rumbek. In the economic field, the Zande Scheme for the growing of cotton and the manufacture of cloth was started at Nzara at a cost of one million pounds.

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In June and July 1955, the management of the Zande Scheme found it necessary to dismiss 300 Southern workmen on economic grounds, little realising the consequences of such dismissals in the political climate of the time. “On 25th July a Southern MP, Eliya Kuze, was imprisoned after a trial which can only be described as a travesty. On the 26th a demonstration took place in the industrial town of Nzara; the situation was mishandled and units of the Southern Corps had to shoot due to the inadequacy of the police forces and six Azande were killed and many others injured. On 7th August a conspiracy to mutiny in the Southern Corps (which was the only remaining force the authorities could rely upon) involving most of the senior NCOs in the Corps was discovered. The authorities were too weak to make any arrests in the army immediately, but two civilians who appeared to have a finger in the mutiny were arrested in Juba. A demonstration took place where the mob demanded the release of the accused, the District Commissioner was assaulted by the mob in the Merkaz and it had to be dispersed by the use of tear gas. Rumours started flying about in Equatoria, and the last straw came when the army Command in Equatoria decided ‘for its prestige and dignity' to persist in their order that No.2 Company Southern Corps should move to Khartoum, when they and everybody else knew that the Company would refuse to obey the orders and would mutiny ….”⁷ The mutiny took place at Torit, the Headquarters of the Southern Corps, on 18th August 1955. The Northern Officers were shot, the Northerners were hunted down and there were 78 fatal casualties in the town of Torit. A general rising quickly spread throughout Equatoria during which more Northerners were hunted down and killed. At Yei, it is recorded that “many Northerners sought refuge in the house of a Greek trader, and they were taken by Protestant missionaries into safety in the Congo.”⁸ It is sad to record that the missionary concerned, the Revd John Parry, and his wife Helena, were five years later refused a permit to return, having given years of outstanding service to education in the Sudan.

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In Bahr el Ghazal Province, Southern troops broke into the arms and ammunition store at Wau on21st August. The Northern Governor assembled Northern officials in his house, decided that the position was hopeless and left by steamer for Malakal. In September, the author of this book returned from UK leave to resume his work at Panekar, Bahr el Ghazal, and found himself held up in Khartoum pending the restoration of law and order in the South. When at last he was allowed to proceed, he flew to Wau and spent the night at the Government Rest House. After dark, a knock at the door revealed a Police Officer in uniform with a gun in his hand. Tension was relieved when a broad grin gleamed in the darkness and a voice said, “Good evening, sir. I am Gordon. May I come in?” Laying his gun on the table, this former pupil described the happenings in Wau, the departure of the Governor and the responsibility which fell upon him and two others to restore law and order. There were no casualties at Wau. The official Report of the Commission of Enquiry states, “The majority of Southern Police Officers to whom the dispute was known and understood took a magnificent part in maintaining law and order in their districts and their loyalty was beyond question. The following were the officers: Gordon Muortat (Wau), Eliya Lupe Baraba (Juba), Gabriel Tulba Kalam Sakit (Rumbek),”⁹ It is said that the standards of discipline and fair lay which marked those who served in positions of responsibility in the British Empire were learned on the playing fields of Eton. Perhaps those hours spent on the playing fields of the Nugent School, Loka, were not entirely wasted. Eliya Lupe was a very good centre half.

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The First Casualty

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It was into this situation that the new Assistant Bishop, Daniel Deng Atong, came after his consecration in Namirembe Cathedral, Kampala, on15th May 1955. He wrote:

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“My first tour began early in July 1955 and lasted until the end of the year. The first area I visited was the Dinka West Bank of the Nile, stretching from Shambe in the East to round and about Wau in the far West. The most encouraging place I visited was Wau. There I had baptisms in Dinka, Zande and Moru languages. Each tribe has a leader elected by them, and he leads the services every Sunday and prepares Catechumens for baptism. The believers are all lively, attending the classes well and also the Church services. In the Government schools there were great opportunities for the growth of the Kingdom of God. It was after returning to Mundri from this tour that the troubles broke out in the South and it seemed that I should be unable to continue. However, I received a message that people were awaiting me on the expected days in spite of the troubles. So I started my second tour of the Zande Churches, where there was much encouragement.

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“I found well over a thousand confirmation candidates awaiting me. Wherever I went, the Pastors were cheerful and proved themselves pillars of faith, as they were challenged by the then circumstances. By their example, hundreds of believers have been strengthened and that was why so many continued to stay in the parish centres and wait for confirmation, in spite of the strong temptation to flee as others had done. The Pastors have done much to steady the hearts of many people, both believers and pagans. As a result of it all, many people have been coming forward all over the Zande country declaring their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

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“The third tour was among the Bari-speaking Churches. Herre too there was much encouragement, especially in the Juba and Yei areas. There were not so many candidates for confirmation, owing to the extremely difficult times, but the same spirit prevailed. The outstanding courage of the Pastors was obvious.

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“My tour of the Norther Archdeaconry more recently has also been encouraging; for wherever I was able to pay a visit the believers gathered and had meetings with me. It was good to find them keeping together and the challenge of the circumstances has made many of them value their faith more than ever before.”¹⁰ However, it is recorded that “the Assistant Bishop was taken ill early in June (1956), but thanks to medical treatment and rest and having taken a holiday in Uganda with his wife, he writes that he feels fully restored.”¹¹

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The burdens of leadership were beginning to be felt.

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In September 1956 Bishop Allison was able to report that, though the State of Emergency was still in force in the South, nearly all schools and colleges had re-opened in July. Bishop Gwynne College had re-opened with a record number of students in residence, with its first Sudanese Vice-Principal, the Revd Ezara B, Lawiri, and a new Dean, the Revd W.B. Anderson of the American United Presbyterian Mission. Three Government institutions, however, had been moved from the South to the North for security reasons – Rumbek Secondary School, Mundri Teacher Training College and Juba Commercial School.

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In January 1957 Bishop Allison reported, “On the spiritual side, there has been much to encourage. The congregations, North and South, have been on the whole better than anyone could ever have expected and in some cases larger than ever before. Bishop Daniel and myself have confirmed well over 2500 each, ie over 5000 people have, in the last three months of the past year, been admitted into full membership of the Church.”¹²

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As a reminder of the changes in the political sphere, the Ministry of Education announced its intention, in 1956, to take over control of all education in the South and this took place in February 1957. At the same time, political attitudes in the South hardened and the Southern Federal Pary was established in 1958, whose objectives were a federal system of government, the establishment of a separate civil service and a separate educational system for the South, an independent Southern army, an independent economic development programme, the recognition of Christianity as a State religion on a par with Islam, and the recognition of English as a State language on a par with Arabic. In the North, “the whole democratic system of Government was under great strain. Political intrigue among the Northern political parties was the rule of the day. The promises which the politicians made were not fulfilled. To the country people, Khartoum was only interested in its own affairs. To the intelligentsia, the politicians were not serious enough in solving the real problems nor capable of solving them. The Government that ruled after 1956 were neither strong enough to command respect not enlightened enough to attract the support of the intelligentsia in either the North or the South. As far as the Southern Sudan was concerned, the Northern political parties were again too preoccupied with their intrigues and power games to think and plan seriously for solving the Southern problems. It was during this period of dissatisfaction in the North and the South, as a result of deteriorating economic conditions and political instability, that the Army took over on 17th November 1958. With the Army take-over, the Southern Problem entered a new phase.”¹³ Mohammed Omer Bashir goes on, “The existence of a parliamentary system and political parties had acted as a restraint on those in the North who advocated the use of force to suppress those who called for federation or separation in the South. When the parliamentary system disappeared and political parties were suppressed, the advocates of compulsion and integration of the North and South by force of arms had the upper hand. As far as the South was concerned, the military regime set out to suppress opposition in the same way as it did in the North. In addition to this, it stepped up the spread of Arabic and Islamisation in the belief that this was the only way to achieve unity in the future.”¹⁴

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To a sensitive sprit, bearing, as the first Sudanese Bishop, the burdens of his own country, the strain was too much. On arrival in the South in September 1959, Bishop Allison found Bishop Daniel was not in a fit condition to undertake the strenuous duties of a confirmation tour. He suffered a breakdown from which he never recovered and in August 1961 Bishop Allison announced his resignation: ‘It is a great grief to me personally and a cause of deep regret to all that Bishop Daniel Deng Atong has had to resign because of his continued state of ill-health and inability to concentrate on the heavy responsibilities of his office.”¹⁵ In August 1960 Bishop Allison had received the further blow of the refusal of a re-entry permit to his newly appointed Archdeacon in the South, John Parry. He still had the staunch support of the Archdeacon in the North, George Martin. But in the South, Bishop Allison now carried on alone “the care of all the churches”.

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Willoughby Carey, when Secretary of the Gordon Memorial Sudan Mission, had written in 1939 of Oliver Allison, as quoted earlier in this story, “He is a little different from the rest in some undefinable way. Steady, eager, vital, humorous with the kind of spiritual quality that remains constant and enduring through all experience and outward circumstances, a fine colleague, a rare companion and a leader of Africans.” A certain irrepressible sense of humour and evangelical exuberance, somehow typical of the CICCU of the 1930s, a certain bounce and unsquashableness, concealed a deep spirituality which, under stress, showed itself in a resilience which was able to rise above disaster after disaster and press ahead with a faith which was both infectious and inspiring. Thus, when announcing the signs of deterioration in the Assistant Bishop's health in September 1959, he was also able to announce that “after consultation with the Archbishop it has been decided some time ago that the time is coming for a second Assistant Bishop to be appointed.”¹⁶

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It would be as well at this point to pause for a moment and be reminded of the size of the Diocese which Oliver Allison had to administer. Khartoum remained as the Headquarters of the Diocese, with George Martin a tower of strength as Archdeacon and Provost. Omdurman continued as a strong centre of Christian witness. The Church of the Saviour, Omdurman, used by both Anglicans and Presbyterians, was staffed by the Revd Philip Abbas Khabush, a product of the work at Katcha in the Nuba Mountains, later to be assisted by the Revd John Brown. The work at Omdurman included Christian Clubs for Christian Nuba and Christian Southerners, the Hospital and the Girls' School. The handing over of schools to the Government in the Nuba Mountains resulted in educational staff converging on Omdurman to strengthen the work there – Roland and Rowena Stevenson, Kenneth and Joan McDonald, Rachel Hassn and Audrey Way. The Girls' School continued under the experienced leadership of Miss Winifred Hill and the Hospital under Dr May Bertram. The Unity High School continued steadily on its way in Khartoum.

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There were only two other clergy in the Northern Sudan – the Revd Butrus Tia Shukai, left behind at Katcha as leader of the church there, and the Revd Prince Albert Hamilton, veteran Bible Society agent in Khartoum. This rugged and loveable character from British Guyana had maintained the Bible Depot in Khartoum since 1920 and his long service was rewarded in February 1956 by the opening of the new Bible House by the Hon. Mrs M.E. Adams, who later in Cairo was a staunch member of the church together with her husband, Sir Philip Adams, British Ambassador in Egypt.

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The chaplaincies in the Northern Sudan were now seriously depleted in membership following the departure of the British after Independence. Only Port Sudan remained staffed by the Missions to Seamen, the other chaplaincies being visited from time to time by the Bishop or the Archdeacon.

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Again it is necessary to be reminded that Christian witness in the Northern Sudan was not confined to the Anglican or Episcopal Church. The Roman Catholic Church maintained its institutions and the American United Presbyterian Church worked closely with the Episcopal Church in maintaining points of Christian witness in the Muslim North.

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Bishop Oliver's real difficulty lay outside the Northern Sudan, in his responsibilities for the Anglican work in Ethiopia, Somalia and Aden. While events in the Southern Sudan cried out for his attention, it was necessary for him to spend much of his time fulfilling his episcopal duties in these outposts of Anglicanism. It is not surprising that events in the Sudan ultimately demanded his whole time and attention and that Ethiopia and Somalia came under the jurisdiction of the Bishop in Egypt, while the departure of the British from Aden brought that particular piece of work to a close.

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The Gathering Storm

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This, of course, is the title of Volume I of Winston Churchill's eight-volume account of WWII. The second volume is called ‘Their Finest Hour' and both titles would be appropriate for the next 10 years in this account of what happened to the Church in the Southern Sudan. The Mutiny at Torit in 1955 set in train a chain of events which did not reach a conclusion until the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1973.

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In January 1961 Bishop Allison announced developments in the church organisation in the South which would prepare it for the testing years to come. The Southern Archdeaconry, as it was then called, which was to have been under the guidance of its new Archdeacon, John Parry, was divided into two – the Bari/Zande Archdeaconry, with Amosa Rakpi Ngama as its Archdeacon, and the Dinka/Moru Archdeaconry, with Elinana Jabi Ngalamu as its Archdeacon – and these two Archdeaconries were to become two new Dioceses in the future, each with its own Bishop. In addition, an Episcopal Church Headquarters was set up in Juba, with the Revd Benjamina Wani Yugusuk as its Secretary and the Revd Jebedayo Jada Swaka as its Treasurer, both to be resident in Juba. The Revd David Brown, Principal of Bishop Gwynne College, was released from his duties there to become the Bishop's Commissary in the South, with the special task of helping to set up the new Church Headquarters in Juba and of training Sudanese personnel to run that office. He was also appointed Canon Missioner for the whole Diocese. He was succeeded as Principal of Bishop Gwynne College by the Revd Richard Gill, with the Revd Ezara Baya Lawiri as his Vice-Principal. Ezara Lawiri and Jebedayo Swaka were made Honorary Canons of All Saints Cathedral, Khartoum.

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Of David Brown, Bishop Allison wrote, “We owe a great debt of gratitude to Canon Brown for his seven years at BGC, during which he has given himself unstintingly, and with his vision and enthusiasm, combined with great intellectual gifts, has seen to it that the College has developed soundly and surely with the speed only slowed down by lack of funds.”¹⁷ The Revd John Lowe and his wife Dr Dorothy Lowe had joined the staff in 1959. And after the handing over of the schools to the Government, Stanley Toward, formerly Headmaster of Nugent School, Loka, joined the staff to help in the vital task of training teachers in Government schools to teach the Christian faith. In his final Report for the year 1960, the outgoing Principal David Brown wrote:

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“Eight former members of the College returned for their final year's training as Priests, which for them was their fifth year in College. We have had 12 men on the First Pastoral (Deacons) Course, five of whom were completing their second year on the Course. The younger students, who had all left Intermediate School at the end of 1958, have been with us during the year for a Vocational Course. There were 15 women on The Wives' Course at the beginning of the year, increased to 19 at the end. Class I were taught Scripture and were also taught how to lead Women's Meetings. They also had classes in simple Arabic, vernacular reading, sewing and hygiene. They were commissioned by the Bishop at a special service in Chapel and awarded College Certificates. (The College owed much to Miss Jean Drinkwater, Mothers' Union worker, for establishing these courses for the training of women.) We have been privileged to continue our assistance to the Ministry of Education in the teaching of Scripture to Protestant pupils in the Intermediate Schools. A 160-page Intermediate School Handbook has been produced by the Publications Bureau and distributed to the schools, an effort which owes much to the initiative and industry of the Revd J.B. Lowe who edited the book. Mr Toward held a very successful 10-day course in Scripture Teaching for Protestant Teachers at the Tonj Teacher Training Centre which 23 students attended, and he visited schools in the Bahr el Ghazal during October in order to advise on Scripture Teaching. We were pleased to receive a letter from the previous Assistant Director of Education, Southern Province, Sayed Sir el Khatim el Khalifa, in which he spoke with appreciation of our work in this connection, and we have continued to enjoy the co-operation of his successor, Sayed Hassan Ahmed el Haj.”¹⁸

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This report is quoted at length because it gives some idea of the scope of the work of the College and the confidence it enjoyed in the eyes of the Ministry of Education, something difficult to reconcile with the attitude of the Sudanese Government towards missionaries in the years immediately following. During these years, the number of Sudanese clergy increased from 16 in 1956 to 44 in 1964. Among the clergy was the Revd Yairo Balle and his wife, who came courageously from the Church in Uganda to serve in the Dinka area on the retirement of Canon Leonard Sharland in August 1958 after 24 years of strenuous service. The number of confirmations averaged 5000 a year from 1955 to 1960 and rose to 7600 in 1962.

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In the first week of May 1962 came the long-awaited announcement of the names of the two Sudanese Assistant Bishops, following the Archbishop's announcement at the Episcopal synod in Jerusalem. Elinana Jabi Ngalamu was to be Assistant Bishop in the Dinka/Moru area, Yeremaya Kufuta Dotiro was to be Assistant Bishop in the Bari/Zande area, and Amosa Rakpi Ngama was to be Provost of the new Cathedral in Juba.

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Elinana Ngalamu was one of the very early converts among the Moru people through the ministry of Dr and Mrs Kenneth Fraser at Lui. He was baptised in the local stream by Archdeacon Shaw. After serving for many years as a teacher/evangelist among his own people, his gifts were recognised as a potential future spiritual leader and he was selected to attend a Pastoral Training Course at the newly established Bishop Gwynne College at Mundri in his own tribal area, only 15 miles from Lui. On completing the three-year course he was ordained deacon by Bishop Gelsthorpe in 1953. By that time, Mundri was a growing centre with both a Government/Mission Teacher Training College and Bishop Gwynne College, and a growing population, at a key position on the main road. It was therefore decided to appoint Elinana, when priested, as pastor-in-charge of a new Moru Parish at Mundri. Under Elinana's leadership, Mundri developed into one of the most progressive parishes in the country. The time came when Elinana found himself in line to succeed one of his relatives as Chief among his own people, and he had to decide which calling to follow. After much prayer and consultation, he felt he could not abandon his calling as a pastor and in due time his faithfulness to his calling led to his appointment as Bishop, and later Archbishop.

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John Parry describes Yeremaya Dotiro as “a lively student, full of questions and showing great promise”, at the Vernacular Teacher Training Centre at Yambio, the centre of the Azande people in the Sudan. He was famous for his deep chuckle and a certain facility for seeing the funny side of things, even when under stress. He became a highly respected teacher with a wonderful way with children. Then came a period when “he fell a victim to the demon ‘drink', and in Zandeland there is no moderate drinking. There was much prayer and counselling, as we all loved Yeremaya very much and longed for his release from what was crippling his spiritual life, his relationship with his wife, with the community and with the school. Then there came a remarkable personal encounter with the Lord Jesus whom he had always loved and served. The result was that Yeremaya stood before Chief and people, the Christian congregation, his fellow teachers and school children, and openly confessed and promised before God that he would drink no more. An old lady laughed and mocked as he spoke and as she was the one who brewed the beer and supplied the drink, she thought it most unlikely that such a change was possible. But Yeremaya in fact never looked back – he returned to his work in the same place, in Church and school, and regained the love and respect of the whole community.”¹⁹ This dramatic experience not only changed his whole life but gave him a testimony which led very naturally to a call to the ordained ministry of the Church and equipped him to minister in tenderness and love to all who turned to Christ in penitence and faith. It was this warm pastoral gift, coupled with a steady growth in spiritual maturity, which singled him out for a wider expression of his gifts as Bishop.

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Para 479

Amos Rakpi Ngama was one of the first boys to attend the first CMS School at Yambio. He was among those chosen for further education at the Nugen School, Loka, and he used to walk the 250 miles from Yambio to Loka. As described earlier, he acted as interpreter to Richard Jones during the 1938 Revival at Yambio and he took the message to Loka when he was appointed to the staff there. He was someone clearly marked out for leadership in the Church and was ordained deacon in 1943 and priest in 1945. He became Pastor in charge of the first Sudanese parish of Bafuka and was then appointed to the key post of Pastor in the new industrial parish of Nzara, the headquarters of the Zande Scheme. He was thus eminently suited to establish the new Cathedral at Juba when it was consecrated on All Saints Day, 1st November 1963.

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Para 480

The two new Bishops were consecrated on 25th January 1963 in Juba Parish Church, on the very spot where the first mud and wattle church was built in 1930. It was a truly African occasion. The church building was far too small to house the large congregation. The overflow was accommodated in specially prepared grass shelters equipped with loudspeakers which enabled everyone to follow the course of the Service. The vestries likewise consisted of temporary grass shelters, one for the Bishops, one for the Clergy and one for the Lay Readers and Lay Women Workers. The Consecration was performed by the Archbishop in Jerusalem, Campbell MacInnes, assisted by Bishop Oliver Allison and the Bishop of West Buganda. Among the 35 or so clergy there was only one expatriate, the Principal of Bishop Gwynne College, and the whole array of Lay Readers and Lay Women Workers was a solid stream of Sudanese. The Archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox Church resident in Juba and the Sudanese Pastor representing the Church of Christ on the Upper Nile (Presbyterian) were also present. The service was attended by many distinguished guests in the Government – military, police and civilian – as well as by representatives of the different communities living in Juba. There seemed to be about the service a sense of peace, quiet dignity and spontaneous joy. Against the background of the somewhat menacing political situation there was a sense of taking part in an important historic occasion representing a big step forward in the life of the Sudan Church.

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Para 481

With the consecration of two new Bishops for the South and the great concentration of the membership of the Church in the South, it was obvious that there should be a Cathedral in the South as an outward and visible symbol of the presence of the Church as a significant body in the life of the peoples of the South. The Foundation Stone was laid by Archbishop MacInnes on 15th February 1959. Actual building did not start until October 1961 because of a series of frustrating delays. Tony Idle was sent by CMS in February 1962 to supervise the building and it was completed in readiness for consecration on All Saints Day, 1st November 1963. In the light of the policy of Islamisation being pursued by the Military Government of General Abboud, it was another event of enormous significance, symbolising the continuing growth of the Christian Church in the face of increasing odds. It was fitting that among the guests was Dr May Bullen, widow of Bishop Guy Bullen, killed in a plane crash while flying from Khartoum in December 1937.

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Para 482

With hindsight, these developments may be seen as the preparation of the Church for the storm which was about to break. “The military governors and administrators devoted much of their time and energies to spreading Arabic and Islam and to suppressing the opposition. Six Islamic Intermediate Institutes were opened in Juba, Kadok, Wau, Maridi, Yei and Raga. A secondary Islamic Institute was opened in Juba and centres for preaching and religious instruction for adults were also established. The Southern intellectuals, like those of the North, were completely alienated and many fled the country.²⁰ It is clear that the Military Regime in Khartoum seriously underestimated the strength of feeling and resolve in the South. “The Army's repressive measures in the South drove thousands of Southerners outside the Sudan into Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and the Central African Republic. In 1960, for example, ‘something in the nature of a large-scale migration began out of Equatoria into Uganda and the Congo'. The exiles formed into organisations: the Sudan Christian Association and the Sudan African Close Districts National Union (SACDNU), Southern Sudan.”²¹ Mohammed Omer goes on to claim that “financial and moral support was given by the Churches”. It can be stated that no such support was given by the Episcopal Church.

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Para 483

Nowhere was the North's underestimation of the depth of feeling and resolve in the South more apparent than in its understanding of the Christian Church. The Christian faith was seen as a foreign importation depending on foreign resources. If the policy of the Military Regime was to Islamise, then the first step was the removal of the foreign missionaries. Without them, the Church's resistance to Islam would collapse.

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Para 484

The author's last three years in the Sudan, 1956-59, were spent in Juba as Education Secretary and Mission secretary of CMS. He was spokesman for CMS in the handing over of schools to the Government in 1957. He was responsible for Mission/Government relations and those relations were good. After the military takeover in 1958, however, the relations began to change. Ordained deacon in February 1959 at Bishop Gwynne College, he served his title in the Parish of Juba under the leadership of the Revd Gabriele Omba Dunge as Vicar. Full of zeal and enthusiasm for his new calling, he joined with his Vicar in the normal pastoral duty of parish visiting, which took him to his Dinka parishioners in the Malakiya. To his intense surprise, he received a letter from the Commandant of Police in Juba saying that this activity had been noted and was prohibited. An innocent pastoral activity was interpreted as having a political motivation and from that time the author was under surveillance.

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Para 485

Early in 1960 came the order that the Revd and Mrs John Parry should not return from leave for John Parry to take up the duties of Archdeacon. On 30th June in the same year, the CMS Bookshop in Juba, which had for years been the only source of religious and educational supplies for the whole church in the South, was closed by order of the Government on the grounds that religious organisations were forbidden to trade. After representation by Bishop Allison to President Abboud, this order was modified to allow distribution of Christian books to Christians at cost price. In the same year, the official day of rest in the South was changed from Sunday to Friday, which sparked off a protest from the students of Rumbek Secondary School and Juba Commercial Secondary School, resulting in the closure of the schools by the Government. A polite letter from the Southern Archdeaconry Council to the President expressing concern was considered to be a hostile action against the State. Sunday was, however, later restored as the Day of Rest in the South.

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Para 486

In the Autumn of 1961 Miss Margaret Pooley was refused permission to return after leave, having given 10 years' valuable service in the cause of girls' education among the Azande. At the same time, a re-entry visa was refused to Mr Niall Watson, second agriculturist at the Church Agricultural Training Farm at Undukori, the Farm to be taken over the Government. This was an outstanding piece of pioneer agricultural work which had won official praise, undertaken by Stephen and Anne Carr, whereby up to 30 families had been settled on the land, enabled to build on traditional farming methods with modern farming techniques and thus encourage educated young men to return to the land as a productive and honourable way of life. Later in the same year, Mr and Mrs George Bennet were ordered to leave the country at short notice. As Church Literature Secretary, George Bennet had co-ordinated the production and distribution of Christian literature in the vernaculars and had even provided material for acquiring literacy in Arabic. Such a service was clearly vital in providing clergy with material for their work and to bring it to an end struck a serious blow at the Church.

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Para 487

A logical development was The Missionary Societies Act of May 1962. Bishop Allison commented as follows:

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Para 488

“In the interpretation of the Act, ‘Missionary Society' means any body or person, whether incorporate or not, whose sole or principal purpose is to convince, by preaching, any other person or persons to profess any recognised religion or any sect or belief related thereto and includes, where the context requires, a member of any such society.

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Para 489

“A ‘Missionary Act' means any organised act done by a missionary society, whether directly or indirectly, for the fulfilment of its sole or principal purpose.

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Para 490

“The Act introduces a system of licensing under which a Society is required to hold a licence before performing its missionary acts; and such a licence may be granted or renewed at the discretion of the Council of Ministers and will normally be valid unto the end of each year.

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Para 491

“Among the Prohibitions contained in the Act, no missionary society shall ‘do any missionary act in regions or places other than those specified in its licence or do any missionary act towards any person or persons professing any religion or sect or belief thereof other than that specified in the licence'.

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Para 492

“It is clearly stated that the acts of any individual member are treated as the acts of the whole Mission and may be the ground for revoking the Mission's licence.

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Para 493

“The Act also allows the Minister with the consent of the Council of Minister to make regulations carrying out the provisions of the Act. This clause makes it difficult to foresee in detail what the implications of the Act may be.

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Para 494

“Although the regulations may refer in general to any of the activities of the Missions, attention is particularly drawn to regulations which may in future affect such things as ‘the publication and distribution of papers, pamphlets or books.'

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Para 495

“Enough has been said to show that the provisions of the Act are very far-reaching; and only experience will show to what extent they will vitally affect the freedom of the Church and the ability of the Missions to serve the Church in the Sudan.”²²

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Para 496

Finally, on the 2nd February 1964 came the expulsion of all foreign missionaries from the South. The reasons given by the Ministry of the Interior for this decision were summarised as follows by the Ministry of Education:

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Para 497

“It has now been proved beyond doubt that the foreign missionary organisation have gone beyond the limits of their sacred mission. They persistently worked inside and outside the Sudan against the stability and internal security of the country. They particularly instigated the people in the Southern Provinces against the Government and encouraged them to break the law. They also exploited the name of religion to impart hatred and implant fear and animosity in the minds of Southerners against their fellow-countrymen in the North with the clear object of encouraging the setting up of a separate political status for the Southern Provinces, thus endangering the integrity and unity of the country. Furthermore, and in order to achieve their objective, they instigated disturbances and acts of violence which resulted in bloodshed, disorder and loss of property in some parts of the Southern Provinces.”²³

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Para 498

The reader must form his own judgment and come to his own conclusions on the evidence of this book. The purpose of this book is to record the story of the growth of the Christian Church in Egypt and the Sudan, not to justify or defend the role of missionaries. It can, however, be said from 20 years of personal experience, that missionaries counted it a privilege to be allowed to be guest workers in a foreign country and deeply appreciated the hospitality offered to them by the people of the Sudan, both North and South; that they gave their whole time and energy and enthusiasm to the particular work to which they were assigned, evangelistic, pastoral, educational, medical, agricultural, administrative; that they served loyally under the Government of the day, British or Sudanese, Civil or Military; that their ultimate aim was the creation of a Sudanese Church, under its own leadership, with a membership ready to play its part as free citizens within a just society.

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Para 499

The numbers of missionaries involved were given by the Ministry of the Interior as follows:

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Para 500

Church and mission sources would question some of these figures but they give a rough idea of the numbers of persons involved. Of the CMS missionaries, only six persons were actually in the Southern Sudan at the time, the rest being on leave. The six persons were Mr and Mrs Christopher Cook, Mission Secretary, Juba; Mr and Mrs Ken Ogden, Mission Builder, Lainya; and the Revd and Mrs John Lowe, theological tutor, Bishop Gwynne College, Mundri. Among those on leave were Miss Jean Drinkwater, who had done outstanding work as Mothers' Union Worker, and Miss Philippa Guillebaud, who had done notable work in Girls' Education and was at that time engaged in the translation of the Bible into Bari. It is invidious to single out anyone for special comment, but special mention must be made of the role played by Christopher Cook at the very heart of events in Juba. Of him, Bishop Allison wrote, “His untiring service during his first years as a Village School Supervisor and later as Headmaster of Nugent School, Loka, and then as Education Secretary of the Mission, combined with the office of Mission Secretary, has been a major contribution to the life of the Church and to the people of the South. Right up to the end he had the full confidence of the Church Leaders. He and his wife have been a tower of strength.”²⁴ Those who were expelled were treated with courtesy and given time to pack their belongings. Bishop Allison records how when he himself was leaving Juba Airport, the Church Secretary, Benjamina Wani Yugusuk, whispered in his ear “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.”²⁵

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Para 501

In 1963 the Southern situation entered a new phase with the emergence of Anya-Nya, a guerilla force named after a virulent snake poison. Formed from a nucleus of ex-soldiers from the Equatorial Corps, it declared itself dissatisfied with the efforts of SACDNU, now renamed SANU (Sudan African National Union), to fulfil Southern aspirations by political means, and deemed it necessary to achieve their aim by the use of force: “Our patience has now come to an end and we are convinced that only the use of force will bring a decision … From today onwards we shall take action … We do not want mercy and we are not prepared to give it.”²⁶ A guerilla war started, first leading to demolition of bridges, the blocking of roads and raids on Army outposts and going on to an abortive attempt to capture Wau, the Headquarters of Bahr el Ghazal Province. In the increased Army activity which inevitably followed, the Southern Provinces became a battlefield, resulting in the burning of villages, the killing of innocent people and the flight of 12,000 refugees from the Sudan to Uganda.

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Para 502

In the meantime, Northern public opinion was beginning to show signs of dissatisfaction with and opposition to the policy of the Military Regime in the South. While some of the Northern politicians genuinely studied the Southern problem and discussed such matters as some degree of local autonomy for the South, the removal of discrimination between Northerners and Southerners, the learning of Southern languages by Northerners and the stepping up on economic development in the South, the Military Regime continued to denounce imperialists and missionaries as the cause of the problem and Southern politicians in exile as their stooges. Faced, however, with the deterioration in the economy as a result of the civil war, the Military Regime was forced to appoint a Commission of Enquiry in September 1964 “to study the factors which hinder harmony between Northern and Southern parts of the Sudan and to make recommendations with a view to consolidating confidence and achieving internal stability without infringing the Constitutional structure or the principle of a unitary government.”²⁷ The University of Khartoum became actively involved in organising public debates on the Southern problem. These debates, however, developed into a general attack on government policy, focussing on alleged corruption in the Military Regime. On 19th October 1964 the police opened fire into a crowd with the intention of breaking up one of these debates and a student named Gorashi was killed. Gorashi became the martyr-hero of the October Revolution. On 21st October a huge procession went out from the University bearing the coffin of Gorashi, a demonstration which continued for three days in the streets of Khartoum and which led to the resignation of the Military Regime.

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Para 503

A Break in the Clouds

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Para 504

October 30th 1964 found the author at Ibuye in Burundi on a visit to mission stations in East Africa in his capacity as Africa Secretary of CMS. In the News Bulletin of the BBC Overseas Service came the announcement of the fall of the Military Government in the Sudan. Next morning came the further announcement of the name of the new Prime Minister – Sir el Khatim el Khalifa, a man with long experience and a profound understanding of the ‘Southern problem', deeply respected buy all during his years as Assistant Director of Education, Southern Provinces. His choice as Prime Minister could only mean that the Southern problem was seen as the highest priority in the affairs of the nation and that Sir el Khatim el Khalifa was the man most likely to solve it. As a friend of several years standing, the author sent him a letter of congratulations and good wishes. On reaching Nairobi on10th November, application was made through the Sudan Embassy for a visa to enter the Sudan and a few days later came the exciting news that a visa had been granted not only to visit the Northern Sudan but to break the journey in the South and spend three days in Juba.

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Para 505

At Juba the flags were out for the visit of the new Minister of the Interior, Clement Mboro, a Southerner. “His appointment as Minister of the Interior in charge of security all over the Sudan was hailed by foreign and internal observers as a sign of goodwill on the part of the North and a proof of its sincerity towards reaching a peaceful solution.”²⁸

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Para 506

The author was met by Provost Amosa Rakpi Ngama and Church Secretary Benjamina Wani Yugusuk. The same evening, the author mingled with the crowds who had gathered in the public square to welcome the Minister of the Interior and to hear him speak. His speech was greeted with mounting applause, the restoration of Sunday receiving a good round and the promised return of Southerners to fill administrative posts in the South getting the loudest of all.

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Para 507

The author was invited to take part in the celebration of the first restored Sunday by celebrating Holy Communion at 7am and preaching at a United Service at 9am. The Cathedral was full to capacity with people standing outside. Being a United Service, the prayers were in English, the sermon in English translated into Southern Arabic, the hymns sung in unison in the various vernaculars and the Bible reading in five languages. The theme of the sermon was the one introduced to the author in East Africa, a slogan born out of the suffering of the Church during the Mau Mau emergency in Kenya and passed on to the Churches in Rwanda and Burundi in the hours of their fiery trial: “Use only one weapon – Calvary love for all, even for those who oppress you.”

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Para 508

At a meeting with Church leaders later, the author drew the conclusions:

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Para 509

(i) That the building of the Cathedral in Juba had been an immense development in church life and of great importance to the whole Church.

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Para 510

(ii) That the emergency had emphasised that the Church in the Sudan was not isolated but part of the World Church and was the focus of the prayers of the whole Church in the world.

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Para 511

(iii) That the emergency had revealed a Church small but well trained in indigenous leadership and in the management of its own affairs.

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Para 512

(iv) That the emergency had strengthened the unity of the Sudanese Church. Tribal differences has been forgotten and the Church was united in Christ.

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Para 513

While expectations were high amongst the entire community in Juba that a new era had dawned, Southern advisers travelling with the Minister of the Interior were much more cautious. It was, in their view, too early to judge whether the signs of change were likely to be permanent or whether they would prove to be ‘mere gestures of appeasement' to ease a difficult situation.

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Para 514

In Omdurman, the author stayed with the CMS Secretary in the North, Rachel Hassan. He wrote, “It is a complete contrast with the South, and with East Africa. The winter has started, the air is crisp and cool and bone dry. The bristles of my hairbrush are like steel. Rachel lives at Abu Kadog, a place pioneered by Sophie Zenkovsky. She lived alone here for years and in her own way established the simple fact that Jesus loves Muslims. The street is like any other in Omdurman, dusty, lined with brown mud walls broken by doorways bolted and barred. But once inside the door, you are in a quiet, friendly place, a little court with a bit of grass, a few flowers and a cool, shady house with thick mud walls, a wide verandah and shutters to keep out the midday sun. If I had my time over again, this is how I would like to spend it, in the heart of a Muslim city, a witness to the simple fact that Jesus loves Muslims. I would be happy to give my whole life to it, mastering Arabic until it became second nature to speak it and just making friends and witnessing to Jesus.”

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Para 515

Whereas missionaries had been expelled from the South, they continued their work undisturbed in the North, presumably because they were more easily kept under surveillance and because they appeared to offer no serious threat to the overwhelmingly strong Muslim community in the North. The contrast between the peaceful atmosphere in the North and the highly charged atmosphere in the South is reflected in notes made at the time: “I met everyone on my first evening at the weekly Prayer Meeting in the little Hospital Chapel. It is small and worshipful and I am always aware of the copper cross and vases given by May Bertram in memory of Charles. They are a good collection of folk, dedicated to their jobs and cared for pastorally by Rachel Hassan. There are the Hospital folk – May Bertram, who belongs to the heroine class; Margaret Coles, coming along nicely as May's successor; the sisters, Ruth Pakenham and Hazel Caren, and a Swiss sister, Beatrice Coggan being away; Brian and Gillian Lea, bringing with them a breath of St Aldates; Winifred Hill, a tough little campaigner from Chorlton-cum-Hardy; Louise Ryder, astonishingly become a part of the Sudan scene after half a lifetime as a London commuter; Barbara Rogers, pioneering in an Independent Sudanese Secondary School and happy in it; and the Unity High School folk: Doris Tweek, Ethel Parker, a couple of graduate VSOs and a couple of keen Christian young men from the University. A jolly good crown. Unnoticed among them, Oliver Allison, irrepressibly expressing himself in some totally unepiscopal way, always, to me, the overgrown Cambridge undergraduate and a magnificent Bishop.” In addition, George Martin remained at Khartoum Cathedral and Roland Stevensn, facing a choice between a lectureship at Khartoum University and Regional Adviser in the Middle East for the Bible Society.

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Para 516

The Storm Breaks

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Para 517

The Government of Sir el Khatim el Khalifa was drawn from all political groups in the North together with two representatives from the Southern Front, a new political organisation recognised as representing Southern opinion. A third Southern member was added later. SANU, the Southern political organisation outside the Sudan, welcomed the change in Government and wrote to the new Prime Minister suggesting among other things the calling of a Round Table Conference to discuss the constitutional relationship between the South and the North. This suggestion was taken up by the Prime Minister, and after a good deal of to-ing and fro-ing, the Conference meet in Khartoum from 16-29th March 1965, under the Chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor of Khartoum University, Professor El Nazeer Dafalla. There were 18 representatives from the North and 27 from the South, with observers from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, Algeria and the United Arab Republic. The Southern representatives were divided in their demands. One group demanded complete secession from the North. The other would settle for federation between the South and the North. The Northern representatives refused to consider either of these demands but were prepared to discuss some form of regional autonomy for the South within a united Sudan. When it became clear that the agreement would not be reached within the time limits of the Conference, a committee was set up to continue the discussions on the future constitutional relationships between North and South. Mohammed Omer Beshir summed up the results of the Conference as follows:

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Para 518

“The real achievement of the Round Table Conference was the opportunity it provided for the leaders and public in both parts of the country to have a much better knowledge and appreciation of the extent of the Southern problem. Those who attended the Conference were not only convinced that violence would not solve the problem and was contrary to the interests of both parts, but that a political solution could be found.

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Para 519

“The Round Table Conference had indeed failed to achieve its main object; nevertheless, it succeeded in identifying the grievances and in pointing to the fact that it would take a long time before the roots of the problem could be eradicated. This would need patience, tolerance and determination on both sides to continue the dialogue.

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Para 520

“The Round Table Conference ended with the understanding that it would be reconvened three months later to continue the search for a political solution. The Southern politicians who were in exile went back to East Africa. The 12-man committee delegated by the Conference to seek a political solution began to search for the magic formula which would be accepted by both [sides]. Everyone realised that this was going to be a hard task."²⁹

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Para 521

The momentum towards reaching a peaceful solution of the Southern problem seems quickly to have been lost with the ending of the Round Table Conference. The Anya Nya increased its activity in the South. The political parties became absorbed in preparing for the elections in the North. The mandate of the Sir el Khatim el Khalifa Government was to prepare the country for parliamentary elections. The South was in favour of the postponement of these elections until a solution to the Southern problem was found. The Supreme Council, however, decided to go ahead with the elections without the participation of the South. The new Parliament elected Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub as Prime Minister and he announced that maximum force would be used to subdue the rebellion in the South and restore law and order. In an action against “the rebels and their sympathisers”, the Army massacred 1400 people in Juba on 8th July 1965 and two days later killed 76 Southern government officials at a wedding party in Wau. Bishop Elinana Ngalamu, on his way from Rumbek to attend a meeting of the Episcopal Synod in Jerusalem, was forced by the local Army unit to stay at Bishop Gwynne College, Mundri, and await orders. Shortly afterwards, the Army surrounded the College during the night and hunted for the College staff and the Bishop. Staff and students, however, had been forewarned and escaped. The Principal stayed until the last minute and then escaped into the bush with his own and the Bishop's family. All through the night, Bishop Elinana hid in a hedge, hunted by the troops. At dawn he slipped away and joined the others. Eventually, after joining up with Bishop Yeremaya, who had escaped from Maridi, the two Bishops found their way to Kampala and reported to the Archbishop of Uganda. For the next seven years the Sudanese Bishops had their base at Gulu in Northern Uganda and exercised their ministry among the refugees. Inside the Sudan, only those Southern Sudanese living within the perimeter of Army-occupied towns remained. They were ministered to by nine Sudanese pastors, three in each of the Provincial Headquarters, Juba, Wau and Malakal. Four other church centres were known to be kept going by lay evangelists. All the other church centres were deserted. The Roman Catholic and Presbyterian statistics were similar. The Southern Church had become a ‘refugee Church', or a ‘Church of the Dispersion'.

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Para 522

The Church of the Dispersion

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Para 523

The first inkling of what had happened in the South came to Bishop Allison in Jerusalem in the form of a telegram from Church Secretary Benyamina Yugusuk in Juba, informing him that Sudanese delegates would be unable to attend the Synod of the Archbishopric. It was only on his arrival in Khartoum on31st July that the Bishop discovered the true seriousness of the situation, from press reports and from ‘various local sources'. “It has been heart-breaking to hear news of more and more people known to oneself personally over the years who have met their death on duty down in the far South. With the increasing stream of refugees, added to the many thousands already out of the country, have gone at this stage doctors, teachers, priests and government officials, who have apparently felt it essential to escape for their lives in order to serve their country when a brighter day dawns. All have left for the countryside or to seek refuge outside the Sudan.”³⁰ Reports began to come in of damage to property – at least part of Bishop Gwynne College and Church buildings at Mundri, Yambio and Akot. “The news of our other Sister Churches in the South is equally disturbing.”

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Para 524

In trying to get inside the mind of Bishop Allison at this time, very much on his own in Khartoum, with the greater part of his Church in flight and out of touch, one is reminded that this has been the experience of the Church from the beginning, and we find St Peter writing: “From Peter, apostle of Jesus Christ, to those of God's scattered people who lodge for a while in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his mercy gave us new birth into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The inheritance to which we are born is one that nothing can destroy or spoil or wither. This is cause for great joy, even though now you smart for a little while, if need be, under trials of many kinds. These trials come so that your faith may prove itself worthy of all praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed … You must therefore be like men stripped for action…”³¹ So we find Oliver Allison forming a plan of action based upon (a) Prayer – “Of all the Churches for all the faithful in all our Communions and for all suffering of all faiths – Muslim, Pagan, Christian – for in such a situation there can be no barriers in the school of suffering; and above all for the Government of this country, for wisdom in dealing with this extreme crisis.” (b) A programme of reconstruction and restoration of the buildings and the whole life of the Church in its centres. (c) A programme of relief for the homeless, bereaved and hungry. (d) A programme of training in Theological Colleges outside the Sudan, not only for ordinands but for teachers to teach Religious Knowledge in the future.

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In February 1972 negotiations between the Sudan Government and the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) began in Addis Ababa. The Sudan Government delegation was led by a Southerner, Abel Alier, the rest of the delegation being Northerners. Bona Malwal writes of Abel Alier, “His cool and patient character and the strong personal respect both sides had for him made it possible for the South and the North to sit and hammer out an agreement of which the whole country was to become proud and for which the outside world would acclaim the humanity of the Sudanese people.”⁴¹

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So began a ministry, based in Khartoum, reaching out through Jerusalem and the World Church, and of a range which covered the Church in the Northern Sudan, the Chaplaincies in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Aden, the refugee camps and resettlement areas in East Africa, the Theological Colleges of Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, and such areas of the Southern Sudan as were open to visitation.

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The year 1966 saw many changes in the Church in the Northern Sudan, marking perhaps the end of an era. Geroge Martin retired on 30th April after 30 years as Provost of All Saints Cathedral, during 16 of which he was also Archdeacon in the North. He and his wife Lena had made the Cathedral a place of stability and constancy during the transition years from Anglo-Egyptian rule to Independence. The ministry to expatriates serving in various capacities in the Northern Sudan created a sense of fellowship and unity which survived long after the end of service in the Sudan and found expression in the strong support given to the Church in the Sudan through the Sudan Church Association in England. 1966 also marked the death of ‘Uncle' Harper in England and the retirement of the Revd P.A. Hamilton from the work of the Bible Society in Khartoum. George Martin was succeeded as Provost by Patrick Blair, formerly Chaplain to Archbishop MacInnes in Jerusalem.

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Omdurman, 1966-7, saw the retirement of such stalwarts as Dr May Bertram, Miss Beatrice Coggan and Miss Ruth Pakenham, after many years of notable service at Omdurman Hospital. Dr Margaret Coles and Dr Barbara Hitch took over the leadership of the team at the Hospital, steering it safely through a time of financial crisis. The Revd Ruben Makoi joined the staff of the Church of the Saviour, Omdurman, in 1967 after having spend 12 months in the bush in the South. Visits were paid by the Bishop and the Revd Butrus Shukai to El Obeid and the churches in the Nuba Mountains, now bereft of missionaries but served by lay evangelists trained in Omdurman. Visits were also kept up to the Churches at Wad Medani and Port Sudan.

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Bearing in mind the desperate situation in the South calling for his attention, it is remarkable to find the Bishop setting off regularly for his round of visits to the Chaplaincies in Addis Ababa, Asmara, Hargeisa, Mogadishu and Aden, journeys demanding physical stamina and a calm and trustful spirit. Philip Cousins began his fruitful years of ministry as Chaplain in Addis Ababa in 1967. Canon A.F. Matthew died in retirement in Addis Ababa on 18th January 1969 after 25 years as Chaplain and then as a member of H.M. Haile Selassie's Committee for the revision of the Amharic Version of the Ge'ez Bible. 1969 also marked the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Brigadier and Mrs Sandford, who had rendered absolutely unique service to Ethiopia and the Church in Ethiopia, and whose daughter Eleanor and her husband Leslie Casbon were to give outstanding service to the Church and community in Egypt as the founders of the British International School in Cairo.

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Perhaps the most urgent part of the Bishop's ministry was to his scattered flock in the refugee camps and resettlement areas of East Africa. At the same time, Uganda was receiving refugees not only from the Sudan but from the Congo and Rwanda and Burundi. The Church in Uganda rose magnificently to the challenge and set apart Canon John Wasikye as Refugee Officer to facilitate the setting up of a Christian ministry to refugees. It also received most lovingly the two Sudanese Assistant Bishops and some of their clergy and integrated them into the work of the Church in Uganda, making them feel at home and cared for – a remarkable testimony to the reality of the Church Universal. In 1966 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees paid a visit to the Sudan and in 1968 it was estimated that there were 115,000 Sudanese refugees in Uganda, Congo and the Central African Republic, not counting those in Ethiopia and other countries. In 1968 the Bishop was invited by the authorities to visit one of the resettlement areas organised by the Uganda Ministry of Community Development, UNHCR and the Church of the Province. He was “pleasantly surprised to find people happily settled in their new homes, after difficult first months of adjustment. The Sudanese Christians have already built, not only their new homes, but also temporary Churches and their little Village Outschools, and have flourishing little farms.”³² In early 1969, Bishop Allison was, for the first time, able to meet with the two Sudanese Assistant Bishops, [and] all the Sudanese Pastors working in the refugee areas of Uganda in a Conference at Mbale. “After their harrowing experiences of the past, it is good to find that they have all settled down happily in their various assignments, mostly in large Settlement areas, and are working with the encouragement and assistance of their Uganda Diocesan Bishops, to whom we owe a real debt of gratitude.”³³ Places were quickly found for Sudanese students in the Theological Colleges of East Africa, so that the growth of the Church could continue without interruption. This was greatly facilitated by the location of the Revd John Lowe and his wife Dr Dorothy Lowe, formerly of Bishop Gwynne College, to Bishop Tucker College, Mukono, Uganda. Canon Ezra Lawiri, formerly Vice-Principal and then Principal of Bishop Gwynne College, was welcomed to Bishop Usher Wilson College, Buwalasi, and the Revd W.B. Anderson, of the American United Presbyterian Mission in the Sudan, joined the staff of St Paul's United Theological College, Limuru, Kenya. Courses for the training of Sudanese teachers in Religious Knowledge were also provided, allowing this important function of the Church to go on unimpeded. Trinity College, Umuahia, Nigeria, also opened its doors to Sudanese students. Visits to the Colleges became a regular feature of the Bishop's ministry. Ex-Sudan missionaries were to be found serving the churches in East Africa in various ways, while Christopher Cook and his wife continued to render outstanding service as CMS Representative, Nigeria, bringing into the strains and stresses of the Biafran War situation the calmness and strength they had already shown in the Sudan.

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An important event during these years was the visit to Khartoum in 1967 of a Goodwill Mission of the All Africa Council of Churches, with its Headquarters in Nairobi. In demonstrating to the Khartoum Government the concern felt by the Christian Church in the whole of Africa for Christians in the Sidan, the Mission made important contacts, which were to be of use later in bringing about the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement in 1972. The delegation, led by Sir Francis Ibiam, a President of the World Council of Churches and a former Governor of Eastern Nigeria, met the Sudanese Prime Minister, Sadiq el Mahdi and other Government and Church leaders. At the end of the visit it recommended:

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a. Practical recongition of the ardent desire of the people of the Southern Provinces to share in running the country.

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b. The need for a Constitution that safeguards religious freedom.

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c. A peaceful and conciliatory approach, rather than military operations, to solve the unhappy situation of the outlaws.

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d. Reconsideration of the Missionary Act of 1962 to allow for outside help to strengthen the leadership of the Chrisitan Churches.

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In the Southern Sudan itself, visits by Bishop Allison were possibly only to the three Province Headquarters, Juba, Wau and Malakal, where he found church services going on as usual, at first with small congregations but increasing steadily year by year. In 1968, the population of Juba was swelled by the influx of refugees from the countryside to 23,000, rising to 50,000 in 1969. Provost Amosa Ngama was permitted to visit Maridi by small plane and news of Christian gatherings began to come in from Nzara, Yei, Bor, Tonj and Torit. While it was impossible in those years for the Diocesan Synod to meet, Church Conferences were held in Khartoum and Juba.

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Meanwhile, in the political sphere, the Twelve-man Committee appointed by the Round Table Conference of 1964 took more than a year to complete its work on the possible constitutional relationship between North and South. Sadiq el Mahdi took over from Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub as Prime Minister in 1966 and called an All-Party Conference to decide whether to adopt the Report of the Twelve-man Committee or to send it to a new session of the Round Table Conference. The All-Party Conference took several months to study the Report and in the meantime a power struggle developed between Sadiq el Mahdi on the one hand and Ismail el Azhari and El Hadi el Mahdi on the other, as a result of which Sadiq was replaced by Mohammed Ahmed Mahgoub for a second term as Prime Minister. In the resulting atmosphere of political instability in the North, “no-one in or out of Government cared any more about the burning public problem that confronted the country. The war in the South once again became an affair for the Army and the other security forces. No-one except the Southerners cared what the Army did there.”³⁴ In 1968 Ismail el Azhari as Chairman of the Supreme Council of State, dissolved Parliament and called for the holding of new elections. The main task of the new Parliament was to draft a new Constitution for the country. The main issue had by now become, not the constitutional relationship between North and South but the choice between a secular Presidential constitution and an Islamic Constitution, both of which were opposed by the Southern political parties. “By the end of 1968 it became obvious, except perhaps to those in power, that the country was not being governed. The public was frustrated, wishing that someone other than the bunch of politicians playing with their interest would come to take over and save the country from the impasse. On25th May 1969, against the background of national frustration and public despair, a group of mostly unknown young liberal Army officers, led by Colonel Jaafar Mohammed Mineiri, stage the second military coup d'etat of the country.”³⁵

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The Hard Road to Peace

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One of Nimeiri's first pronouncements was that he would adopt a policy of “seeking a peaceful solution” to the Southern problem. On the strength of this pronouncement, Bishop Allison sought an interview with Major Farouk Osman Hamadullah, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior, during which three major changes of policy were declared:

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(i) There would be freedom of religion. This at once removed the fear of the imposition of an Islamic Constitution which had become a major obstacle to peace. “One can therefore thankfully record this decision to treat all religions with equal respect.” Wrote Bishop Allison.

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(ii) There would be a form of Socialism which would be specifically Sudanese in character, basing itself on good relations with all Arab states, “yet not annulling our African character. The world has gradually begun to realise that the great desert is not a barrier between the Arabs to the North of the desert and the Africans to the South. We do not discriminate in our relations with the two sides but thank our destiny”.

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(iii) The policy for the South was outlined in a statement by Major-General Numeiri, President of the Council of the Revolution, as follows: “The Revolutionary Government is confident and competent enough to face existing realities. It recognises the historical and cultural differences between the North and the South and firmly believes that the unity of our country must be built upon theses objective realities. The Southern people have a right to develop their respective cultures and traditions within a united Sudan. In furtherance of these objectives the Revolutionary Council and the Council of Ministers held joint meetings and after a full discussion of the matter resolved to recognise the right of the Southern people to Regional Autonomy within a united Sudan.”³⁶

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However, Nimeiri had first to establish his own position, which was opposed by the traditional political parties in the North, who questioned the legitimacy of his coup d'etat and objected to the inclusion of Communists in his Government. In the South, Nimeiri's cause was not advanced by the appointment of Joseph Garang, a known Communist, as Minister of State for Southern Affairs. To meet these threats to his position, Nimeiri moved first against the Ansar, the traditional followers of the Mahdi. In an attack on Aba Island by land and air, the Imam, El Hadi El Mahdi, was killed, while Sharif Hussein El Hindi and Sadiq El Mahdi escaped. Large numbers of the Ansar fled to Ethiopia and Libya, later to unite in an attempt to overthrow Nimeiri in 1976. With the disappearance of the opposition from the right, the Communists seized the opportunity to try to impose their own policies on the country. A programme of nationalisation of foreign companies and businesses, together with an influx of Soviet experts and technicians, alerted the Revolutionary Command Council and the people in general to the fact that they were being led along a path which they did not want to follow. On 9th July 1971 the Communists staged a coup to try to get rid of Nimeiri and run the country in their own way. Nimeiri and his close associates were arrested and detained in the Republican Palace, while a large number of officers were disarmed and detained in the Guest House adjacent to the Palace. In London, Babiker El Nur, named by the Communists as their leader, boarded a British Airways flight with Farouk Hamadallah to return to Khartoum, only to find themselves the victims of a dramatic intervention by Colonel Gadaffi of Libya, who intercepted the British plane over Libya and arrested the two Sudanese Communist leaders as an act of support for Nimeiri. The non-arrival of these two leaders in Khartoum spread consternation among the Communists and gave officers loyal to Nimeiri the opportunity to seize a quantity of arms and two tanks and advance on the Republican Palace. After fierce fighting, during which All Saints Cathedral found itself in the line of fire, Nimeiri was freed and quickly reassumed control. There followed a savage purge of Communist leaders, leaving Nimeiri at last free to assume total control. In September 1971 he was elected President, dissolved the Revolutionary Command Council and appointed three Vice-Presidents, one of whom was a Southerner, Abdel Alier, who also held the position of Minister of State for Southern Affairs. Southerners were also appointed as Commissioners in the three Southern Provinces and, most important of all, contacts were made with the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement, the political arm of the Any Nya, and negotiations begun on the hard road to peace.

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Following the hopeful pronouncements of the new Regime, Bishop Allison was able to report, in Autumn 1969, of conditions in the South: “Already there are signs of the beginning of a return to normality in some areas and when the refugees get news of their people in the heart of the countryside returning to their homes and villages and not just to the Peace Camps, there will undoubtedly be an increasing flow of returning refugees.”³⁷ For the first time, Bishop Allison was allowed to visit Camps outside Juba. The Revd Enoka Chaima was able to be posted to Nzara. The Revd Enok Riak was able to visit Rumbek and Yirol from Wau. Plans began to be put in hand for the repair of Pastors' houses in Lainya, Yei and Maridi. The ordination training programme bore fruit in the number of ordained Sudanese clergy reaching 60 in the Autumn of 1970. John Malou and Michael Lugor were ordained in Khartoum Cathedral after completing three years' training in Uganda. Eluzai Munda and Seme Solomona returned after five years' advanced study and theological training in Nigeria. Nathaniel Anai joined the staff of Rumbek Secondary School to teach Religious Knowledge, having taken a degree course at the Near East School of Theology, Beirut. And on 24th January 1971, co-incident with the meeting of the Episcopal Synod of Jerusalem and the Middle East in Khartoum, Butrus Tia Shukai was consecrated Assistant Bishop of Khartoum and Benjamina Wani Yugusuk was consecrated Assistant Bishop in Juba. At the Service of Consecration, the Archbishop in Jerusalem, George Appleton, was assisted by Oliver Allison, Bishop in the Sudan, Obadia Kariuki of Mount Kenya, Bishops Thompson and Hassan Dehqani-Tafti of Iran, Bishop Naguib Qubain and Kenneth Cragg, Assistant Bishop in Jerusalem – an occasion of the greatest possible significance in the life of the Church in the Sudan and of its place in the life of the country. The year 1970 also marked the Silver Jubilee of the Diocese of the Sudan, and Bishop Allison wrote: “Few Dioceses can have had a more eventful history than ours. One sometimes wonders how it compares in miniature with the first 25 years of the Acts of the Apostles! One thing is certain, and that is that the Church is established in the South of the Sudan, and in the hearts of many thousands of its varied people; so there need be no fear for the future provided it is supported by the prayers and endeavours of the Sudanese Christians themselves and of all their well-wishers and devoted helpers in the Sudan and the UK and ‘to the uttermost parts of the earth'.”³⁸

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Perhaps the spirit of those days was best caught in some words written by John Taylor in one of his CMS News Letters in 1971:
“In the large areas of the Southern Provinces which are not regularly patrolled and controlled by the northern army the Church seems to be growing more rapidly than anywhere else in Africa. One of the clergy in the countryside in central Equatoria reports having baptised over 10,000 of the Moru people since 1965. One Sudanese evangelist knows of 102 makeshift and quickly dismantled preaching centres in his parish alone. Another who has been four times forced to move hurriedly on to save his life is continually on circuit by bicycle or on foot, visiting in turn the 63 preaching centres in his district. At each of them there is an authorised catechist in charge. Many hundreds have been baptised, their names lovingly recorded in an old exercise book. The clergy themselves have certainly been marked men. In the eyes of the military they are supporting the rebels because, being leaders of their people, they do not bring them to the ‘peace camps'. So they are men on the run, chased and chivvied, their whereabouts always liable to be betrayed by some pathetic spy, desperate for food. Out of their tribulation these courageous Christians are enriching the universal treasury of faith, not only with the story of their endurance but with the very words of their love for the Lord. One teacher who stayed in the bush at the time of the big exodus in 1965, meets choir leaders from all over, twice a year, to share new hymns that have been composed in their congregations. In 1969 he walked out with a battered notebook full of them, words and music notation, to get them duplicated for wider distribution. Like the songs of the Negro people, these other-worldly hymns keep alive the Southerners' sense of identity and their faith in a just outcome in this world as well.”³⁹

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Further significant changes took place in the life of All Saints Cathedral, Khartoum. In 1970 came the announcement of the resignation of Provost Patrick Blair after five years of vigorous and fruitful ministry. It could not have been easy to follow such a stalwart as George Martin, who was Provost for 20 years and had established a memorable tradition. The Cathedral had been a source of inspiration for expatriates who had served in one capacity or another in the Sudan, with its Sunday Evening Service as a time for quiet reflection and a renewal of spiritual strength. The Gordon Memorial Chapel was the place where the whole country was upheld in the ministry of daily prayer and worship which was conducted there. This was balanced by the Gwynne Memorial Chapel on the South side, which was used for Baptisms, Evening Prayer mid-week and for other purposes. The Supper Club, so popular with a wider range of Khartoum residents and visitors, continued as a much-appreciated tradition on Sundays after Evening Service. The Blairs maintained all this, as well as developing work among children and maintaining Clergy House School under the leadership of Ann Laxton. The aims of the life of the Cathedral were summed up by Patrick Blair in a quotation from the message of the Lambeth Conference on 1968; “God is active in this Church, renewing it so that the Church may more clearly proclaim its faith to the world, more effectively discharge its mission of service to the world and may recover that unity for which our Lord prayed and without which it cannot be truly itself. It is our belief that God is now renewing his Church. It is for us to recognise the signs of his renewing action and to welcome them and to obey them … “⁴⁰

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One of the signs of God's renewing action was the increasing significance of the part played in the life of the Cathedral by Christians from the South. Their main Service had always been on Sunday mornings, with lessons read in four or five different languages. In the Spring of 1970 the Revd John Malou was appointed to the staff of the Cathedral, later to be joined by the Revd Eluzai Munda. When Patrick Blair's resignation was announced, the author of this book was named as his successor, only to be followed a few months later by the announcement that he had been refused an entry visa, a clear sign that the era of expatriate leadership in the Cathedral had come to an end. It has already been described how the Cathedral found itself in the line of fire during the abortive Communist coup of July 1971. It was never used again, being put ‘out of bounds' by the authorities. By the Spring of 1972 negotiations had begun for the granting of another site for the Cathedral of the future, and in March 1973 came the appointment of the Revd Ephraim Natana as the new Provost.

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In February 1972 negotiations between the Sudan Government and the Southern Sudan Liberation Movement (SSLM) began in Addis Ababa. The Sudan Government delegation was led by a Southerner, Abel Alier, the rest of the delegation being Northerners. Bona Malwal writes of Abel Alier, “His cool and patient character and the strong personal respect both sides had for him made it possible for the South and the North to sit and hammer out an agreement of which the whole country was to become proud and for which the outside world would acclaim the humanity of the Sudanese people.”⁴¹

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What is not generally known is the part played by the Churches in bringing about these negotiations. We have already noted how a goodwill mission of the All Africa Council of Churches (AACC) visited the Sudan in December 1966 to convey to the Sudanese Government the concern felt by the Churches in Africa for the situation in the Southern Sudan. The attention of the Sudan Government was again drawn to the World Church by the setting up in 1970 of a programme of aid for the Southern Sudan organised by the AACC and the Division of Inter-Church Aid of the World Council of Churches (WCC). By the year 1971, the Anya Nya achieved a new degree of unity under the leadership of General Joseph Lagu and it became known that the SSLM was prepared to enter into negotiations with the Sudan Government to discuss regional autonomy for the South. In May 1971 a WCC/AACC mission visited the Sudan at the invitation of the Sudan Government and was able to take back to the SSLM assurance of the Sudan Government's willingness to take part in such discussions. The response of the SSLM was conveyed back to Khartoum by a second WCC/AACC delegation and this led to secret talks between the two parties in November 1971. Official negotiations began in Addis Ababa in February 1972 between representatives of the Sudanese Government and the SSLM, moderated by Canon Burgess Carr of the AACC in the presence of representatives of the WCC. After12 days of sometimes difficult negotiations, the Addis Ababa Agreement on the problem of the South Sudan was initialled by both sides on 26th February 1972. It included a draft law for the organisation of regional self-government in the Southern Sudan, a ceasefire agreement and agreements on the interim arrangements to be made. One month later, the Foreign Minister of the Sudan, Dr Mansour Khalid, and the President of the SSLM, Major-General Joseph Lagu, signed the agreement in Addis Ababa, in the presence of the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, who had lent the good offices of his government to every stage of the negotiation.”⁴²

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The Years of Promise

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The Addis Ababa Agreement provided for a single Southern region comprising the three Southern Provinces – Equatoria, Bahr el Ghazal and Upper Nile – with a Regional Assembly which elected a President for its own High Executive Council. The man appointed by President Nimeiri to bring this about was Abel Alier, who had been one of the three Vice-Presidents appointed by Nimeiri in 1971, and, as we have seen, was the leader of the Sudan Government delegation in the discussions leading up to the Addis Ababa Agreement. He was a man respected and trusted by both North and South and described by Bona Malwal as “a man of cool but strong personal character and self-confidence, and always does what he personally feels right, even in opposition to all his colleagues and political associates.”⁴³ President Nimeiri regarded Abel Alier as his personal representative in the South and what was achieved between 1972 and 1978 is attributed largely to the close relationship which existed between them. This, however, had its dangers. Bona Malwal writes, “Because of good personal relationships between the President of the Republic at the centre and the Vice-President in the South, many institutional problems which should have been discussed and resolved through the Institutions have been solved personally by the two men. As a result, the Sudan has benefitted and the system in the South has survived, but the Institutions have been diminished if not totally obscured.”⁴⁴ Douglas H. Johnson, in The Minority Rights Group Report No. 78 writes, “The full weight of the Agreement came to rest on the working relationship between the Presidents of the Republic and of the High Executive Council. It was a relationship which was vulnerable to stresses at either end of the Khartoum-Juba axis. In Khartoum, Nimeiri had to contend with those who thought he had conceded too much to the South, while in Juba Abe Alier … was accused of being too subservient to the North. Attempts by both Presidents to meet the complaints of their critics weakened this governmental link between the North and the South, imperilling the effectiveness of the entire Agreement.”⁴⁵ While full credit must be given to Abel Alier for what he achieved, it is important to note the stresses under which he operated if we are to understand all the factors which led to the deterioration in the situation which occurred later.

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A Regional Assembly was duly elected in the South, with Abel Alier as President of the High Executive Council (HEC). Bishop Allison noted with pleasure that of the 11 Ministers of the HEC, eight were former students of the CMS Nugent School, Loka, including the President himself. “This is surely an indication that the contribution of our former Mission Schools was not in vain as it produced men of individual character which stood the test of time and radical change.”⁴⁶ In May 1976 Abel Alier outlined the task assigned to him in the following terms:

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(i) The absorption of 6,000 Anya Nya into the armed forces, police and prison service.

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(ii) The rehabilitation of the remainder of the Any Nya.

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(iii) The resumption of their former jobs in the public sector of returning civilians.

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(iv) The repatriation and rehabilitation of up to one million returners from the bush and from neighbouring countries.

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(v) The accommodation of returning children into new and existing schools.

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(vi) The setting up of the administrative institutions of government.

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(vii) The rebuilding of confidence and harmonious relations in a sick and divided country.47

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In working towards some of these objectives, the Church clearly had a vital part to play. In February 1973, while the Addis Ababa discussions were still going on, a conference of relief agencies was held in Khartoum at which plans were laid for support in the form of money, workers and suppliers. Generous help came from the WCC, Christian Aid, Bread for the World, Danchurch Aid, Norwegian Church relief and other agencies including Roman Catholic agencies, much of the work being done by the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC). The SCC drew up plans for the reconstruction of church property and established a fund to help cover the cost. The SCC programme covered large parish centres, brick-built churches and pastors' houses, village churches being left to returning refugees to rebuild themselves with local materials and without outside aid. In 1972, the Sudan Interior Mission (SIM), the Sudan United Mission (SUM), the Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) and the Africa Inland Mission (AIM) formed the Africa Committee for Rehabilitation of the Southern Sudan (ACROSS). They committed themselves to an initial programme of reconstruction lasting two-and-a-half years and in 1975 this was renewed for a further three years. The work involved the setting up and staffing of 10 health centres, the re-opening of three hospitals, and vocational training programmes. The overall aim was to provide centres where there could be a basic agricultural improvement unit, a mobile health unit, social welfare and literacy outreach and opportunities for vocational training. In due time, personnel from CMS and other agencies worked under the ACROSS umbrella. In November 1974, Ken and Betty Ogden were allowed to return to Lainya to join the Revd Christopher Mame to work for the Sudan Council of Churches Reconstruction project. By December 1975 Ken Ogden was able to report that the reconstruction of Bishop Gwynne College had gone far enough for the College to reopen in August of that year.

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Meanwhile, outside the Sudan in East Africa, the Revd Robert Vass, a former Sudan missionary, was authorised by Bishop Allison and Archbishop Allison to co-ordinate the programme of relief through the Central Aid Fund and the Medical Council for Refugees. Working first from Kampala and later from Nairobi, his organisation became the centre through which international aid was channelled. Having gained the confidence of the authorities both in the Sudan and East Africa, he was able to organise a steady stream of supplies through Northern Uganda and Northern Kenya – no mean task. He was able to provide such things as medical kits, including rehydration salts which were to save the lives of many children, smallpox and cholera vaccine packed in large thermos flasks and handed over to medical assistants and dressers among the refugees; fishing twine and hooks, sewing equipment, agricultural equipment and seeds; educational materials for village schools run and organised by trained teachers among the refugees; bicycles and even typewriters. He did a magnificent job and in his last communication before his retirement in 1974, Bishop Allison spoke of the enormous debt owed by the Sudanese Church to him.

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Deeply concerned for the plight of the Sudanese Church was Archbishop George Appleton. He was in fact in East Africa during the Addis Ababa discussions and on 3rd March 1973 he was the preacher at a service in Mbala Cathedral, Uganda, when 20 Sudanese were ordained to the diaconate, 18 of whom had come from the bush itself and had gone through a crash course in nine months. The day after their ordination, they went back into the bush, carrying with them books, seeds and medical kits. The training courses were carried out by Canon Levi Hassa, assisted by Canon Ezara Lawiri and Canin Martin Rianga, with much of the organisation undertaken by Miss Dorothy Robinson, seconded from the Jerusalem Diocese. In expressing his thanks to all who had contributed to the support of the suffering people in the bush, the Archbishop had a special word of gratitude for Mr Terry Waite, Provincial Training Officer in Uganda, and for a small, devoted group of people in Makerere University. When the announcement came of the retirement of Archbishop Appleton in March 1974, Bishop Allison wrote, “It seems appropriate to put on record our deep sense of gratitude to him for the inspiration and encouragement that he has brought to the Diocese during his period of office. By his spiritual leadership at such a critical period in the life of the Church throughout the Middle East generally and in the Sudan in particular, he has given an invaluable contribution to us all. His special care and concern for the Sudanese Church in exile, with its spiritual and material needs, in providing funds for the training of men for the village ministry and medical and agricultural supplies for the saving of human lives, will not be forgotten, When the return from exile began, the Archbishop continued to show deep concern by appealing for help in the programme of Church rehabilitation. This has enabled our Bishops and their own families to settle in without the added anxiety of having to cope with the needs of their own families and therefore to concentrate on the spiritual ministry to their people.”⁴⁸

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In the meantime, the Church was moving forward to meet the challenges and opportunities of the hour. In the autumn of 1973, Bishop Allison had written, “One of the remarkable and providential results of the long period that has just passed of disruption in the outward and visible life of the Church has been the development of indigenous leadership at all levels. The former ‘Missionary Era' has passed in that sense of the word, and never again will the Sudanese Church be dependent on expatriate leadership in any sphere. But that does not mean that it will not wish to invite fellow workers of other nations to join in the continuing task of building up the Body of Christ in the Sudan. This leadership is clearly revealed not only amongst full-time church workers, but to those called to high positions in the Government.”⁴⁹ So the Church moved steadily forward to become a strong, integral part in the life of the nation.

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The first step was the decision of the Episcopal Synod of the Middle East in 1971 to set the rapidly expanding Church of the Sudan free from its commitments outside the Sudan so that it might be the better prepared to assume the new and great responsibilities to be carried by the indigenous leaders of the Church within the Sudan. Responsibility for the Chaplaincies in Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen was transferred to the Diocese of Egypt.

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Para 565

The second step was the announcement by Bishop Allison that he would retire in 1974, making way for the appointment of a Sudanese Diocesan Bishop. The process of selection of the new Diocesan Bishop was interesting. “The first step was to get the approval of the Episcopal Synod for the best and fairest method of seeking the consensus of Sudanese opinion from those who were in a position to judge from their personal knowledge of the Bishops and of the qualities required of a Diocesan Bishop in the Sudan. It was recommended that I obtain their opinion by a secret ballot of about an equal number of clergy and leading laymen. This I did with much care. The result of the ballot left no doubt as to the man of their choice (and, I believe, of God's choice). After confidential correspondence with the Archbishops of Canterbury and of Jerusalem, the appointment was duly confirmed with the warm-hearted approval of both Archbishops, that of Bishop Elinana Ngalamu.”⁵⁰

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The third step was the decision by the Episcopal Synod of Jerusalem and the Middle Eat in Isfahan, 16-22 January 1973, that the Diocese of the Sudan should move forward in stages towards becoming an independent Province of the Anglican Communion, this being part of plans for the restructuring of the Archbishopric of Jerusalem itself. As a first move in this direction, the Anglican Consultative Council, in July 1973, agreed that the Diocese of the Sudan should opt out of the Jerusalem Archbishopric and revert to the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury, later to lead to a Mandate from the Archbishop of Canterbury for the formation of an independent Province of the Sudan. At the same time, as we have seen in the previous chapter, the Jerusalem Archbishopric moved towards the formation of the independent Central Synod of Jerusalem and the Middle East with its own President Bishop. Thus it came about that, on 24th February 1974, Bishop Elinana Jabi Ngalamu was installed in Juba Cathedral by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the first Diocesan Bishop of the Sudan – no longer an expatriate Bishop IN the Sudan, but the Sudanese Bishop OF the Sudan. And in October 1976 the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Donald Coggan, inaugurated in Juba the new Anglican Province of the Sudan, with Elinana Ngalamu as its Archbishop. And so came to an end the period of ministry in the Sudan of Oliver Allison, a period lasting 35 years, 25 years as a Bishop, 20 of those years as Diocesan Bishop. It was fitting that a tribute to him should come from Africa itself, from the All Africa Conference of Churches, through its General Secretary, Cannon Burgess Carr:

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“Bishop Oliver Allison came to the Sudan more than 30 years ago as a labourer for the Lord to help extend his Kingdom at one of the most exciting and challenging crossroads in an African nation. His task was to present Jesus Christ to a people with a long and revered religious culture deriving from Islam and from African traditional faith.

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Para 568

“Only a man of Oliver's vision, humility and deep personal faith in Jesus Christ could have withstood the hazards of such an exacting mission. He did. As a result of his efforts and his dedication there is today in the Sudan an Anglican Church that has survived nearly two decades of civil strife and is now active in the t ask of healing the nations wounds.

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Para 569

“But Oliver Allison's contribution is not to be measured in relation to any church structures he may have been instrumental in building up in the Sudan; rather by men and women whose lives have been transformed through his example of loyalty and obedience to Jesus Christ. It is these men and women who during the years of civil war trekked hazardous miles in order to evangelise their fellow countrymen. The phenomenal growth of the church in the Sudan during this period is a milestone in the history of African Christianity and a tribute to the work of Oliver Allision. Today he leaves this church not only structurally more developed but fully in the hands of Sudanese Christians. We honour him for this as we thank God for Oliver's life.”⁵¹

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To get the new situation in focus, in 1971 we find Bishops Elinana and Yeremaya still in exile in East Africa ministering to the Church in exile, while Bishops Butrus and Benjamina were inside the Sudan ministering to the outposts of the Church in the Northern Sudan and to the Church in Juba, in the peace camps and in the bush in the South. There are some rather delightful touches in their reports. Bishop Butrus wrote of his tour of the churches in the Nuba Mountains: “We left Lira-Heiban with two evangelists. We took three donkeys to carry our things and bedding to Muro. We started our journey at 7pm and rested on the way for only two hours. The donkeys were very troublesome. I rode on one of the donkeys and sometimes walked. It was better for me to walk, but my feet got swollen. We arrived at Shawaya at 7am next day and had breakfast and rested, then at 9am we left Shawaya for Karum. There was no water on the way and the donkeys became more tired than us men. After five hours walking, we rested under a big tree and there we found some water but were sorry for the poor donkeys because there was not enough water for them. We started again at 3pm and arrived at Karum at 10pm and found some people awaiting us whilst others were already asleep. In the morning many people came to see us. Our plan was changed at Lira because the Christians wanted us to stay longer than planned. We had a full three days' conference.” Surely this is how Paul and Barnabas travelled in Asia Minor, from Iconium to Lystra, Derbe and back! Bishop Benyamina wrote of his travels in the South: “The journeys in these years are very rough. I cannot go into details but you will perhaps understand the present situation. It is only God's mercies which make them possible. The Church in the Southern Archdeaconries has suffered materially, but spiritually it is rich and continues to work for the building up of the life of the people.”⁵²

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On 14th May 1972, very soon after the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement, Bishops Elinana and Yeremaya paid a short visit to the Sudan and were able to have an informal audience with President Nimeiri and other Ministers in Khartoum, followed by a meeting with regional authorities in Juba, before returning to Uganda.

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Para 572

1973 saw the return of the two Bishops from exile to take part in the ‘spiritual rehabilitation' of their people. “Wherever they have been they have found a spiritual response in the hearts of the people and large numbers of believers have been receiving Confirmation.”⁵³ And on All Saints Day, 1st November 1972, a fully representative Diocesan Synod met in Juba after an interval of 10 years.

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Para 573

So we come to the Installation of Bishop Elinana as Diocesan Bishop in Juba Cathedral on 24th February 1974. The new era in the life of the Diocese was given a splendid send-off by a large Conference arranged for all Pastors, including those of other denominations. The Conference was sponsored by World Vision and was seen as part of the Church Rehabilitation programme and for the deepening of the spiritual life of the Church. It brought together Church leaders who had been dispersed for many years – one or two from the Church of Jesus Christ in the Nuba Mountains and several from the Presbyterian and Roman Catholic Churches. The special speakers were Dr Paul Rees from the USA, Canon Bill Butler from the UK, Bishop Silvanus Wani from Uganda and the Revd Gottfried Osei-Mensah from Kenya. “It was a time of great blessing and many lives were changed.” A big Bari Convention was held later in Juba. “After these days together in Juba, all went to their parishes and places of work with great joy and singing in their hearts to the glory of God. Lastly, I must remind you of the wonderful growth of the Church. Ordained clergy now number almost exactly 100 and there are an increasing number of lay workers, men and women” wrote Bishop Elinana⁵⁴

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Para 574

Bible Training Institutes functioned in Juba and Omdurman. “Eight young Nuba evangelists have now completed their course, seven have returned to their homes and villages in the Nuba Mountains, the eighth being posted to Kosti to enable the Dinka evangelists there to come into training for the next course.” The Revd Manasse Binyi was placed in charge of Youth Work, with four leaders in the South and one in the North. William Ngalamu, the son of the Bishop, was appointed Literature Co-ordinator, assisted by Mrs Olive Peat. Four translation groups were at work, one for each main language area. The Church Bookshop was re-opened in Juba and there were plans being discussed with the Sudan Council of Churches for radio programmes. Seven women leaders continued the work which they had been doing for many years. In 1975 Bishop Nwankiti of Owerri, Nigeria, visited Juba for the ordination of seven deacons in the Cathedral and on 6th April of the same year a notable event was the enthronement of Roman Catholic Bishop A. Dud as the first Roman Catholic Archbishop of the Sudan.

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Expatriates still had a role to play in the new situation. We have seen how in the South they played a part in the programme of reconstruction and rehabilitation under the umbrella of ACROSS. In the North, the new Provost of the Cathedral (non-existent since the closure of All Saints Cathedral) was a Sudanese, the Very Revd Ephraim Natana, with the Revd Charles Bonsall as his assistant and Chaplain to the expatriates. The transition from expatriate to Sudanese leadership was reflected in a report given by Provost Natana to the Annual General meeting of the Sudan Church Association in London in June 1974: “There is a large community of Southern Sudanese in the Three Towns (Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman) whose Pastor is the Provost of the Cathedral. At the moment, through my two years' experience in Khartoum, and considering all the difficulties of transport, I have realised the importance of the church moving to the people and finding them where they are. I have therefore established House Churches in six areas round Khartoum and of these, two have become very active. In one area, Sunday School activities have started and are getting on well, despite lack of materials. The Southern Sudanese who live in Omdurman and Khartoum look to me as their Pastor and come all the way to Khartoum for services. A Women's Fellowship has been running veery well for prayers and Bible Study and they do knitting and sewing. These activities are very important in the life of the Church.”⁵⁵

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Para 576

Unity High School and the Clergy House International School continued to serve the international community in Khartoum. In Omdurman, these year saw the retirement of Rachal Hassan, having served in the Sudan since 1943, with an interval in UK, first as an educationist in the Nuba Mountains and then as CMS Representative in the Northern Sudan; also of Winifred Hill after many years as Headmistress of the CMS Girls' School in Omdurman; and of Louise Ryder, for long a top secretary in CMS Headquarter in London, then adapting marvellously to the Sudan as secretary to the CMS Representative in Juba and then as secretary to Bishop Allison in Khartoum. In 1971 Omdurman Hospital was handed over to the Ministry of Health after having played a very important part, since the earliest days of the Church in the Sudan, in the Christian witness to Muslims. Of the Hospital staff, Miss Hazel Caren remained to work for the Ministry of Health in its service to leprosy patients. Dr George Trub and his little team of Swiss missionaries maintained the clinic at Abu Rof and Dr Agnes Compton made her contribution, being the wife of John Compton, the new CMS Representative in the Northern Sudan. Mr Philip Gordon served devotedly and unobtrusively in the Religious Teachers' Courses in Omdurman. The Revd Philip Blair, and after him the Revd John Barff, performed the vital task of training Nuba evangelists in the Omdurman Bible Training Institute, for the strengthening of the tiny church in the Nuba Mountains. Miss Peggy Jackson became secretary to Bishop Elinana in Juba. A whole book is needed to tell the story of the translation of the Bible into Bari by Miss Philippa Gullebaud. Having established a flourishing Girls' School at Yei, her skill in Bari, perhaps inherited from a family of brilliant linguists, marked her out for whole-time Bible translation work. Building on the foundations laid by Archdeacon Paul Gibson, she stuck doggedly to her task with her small team of helpers, a task which took her to East Africa with the refugee church and finally brought her back to Juba with the returning refugees, to complete the task of the translation of the whole Bible into Bari. This, together with the work of Canon Ezara Lawiri in the translation of the Bible into Moru, must surely go down in history as one of the outstanding pieces of translation work carried out under the most adverse circumstances.

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Para 577

If the years of suffering of the Sudanese Church have revealed anything, they have revealed the reality of the concept of the Church Universal as the ‘Body of Christ'. “If one member suffer, all members suffer with it” (I Corr 12.26). Membership of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan as part of the Episcopal Church in the Middle East, membership of the world-wide Anglican Communion, membership of the Sudan Council of Churches, the participation of the World Council of Churches, the formation of ACROSS, all declare membership of one Body, the Body of Christ in the World. This universal membership took concrete form in the link forged between the Diocese of the Sudan and later the Province of the Sudan with the Diocese of Salisbury. In March 1973, Bishop Campbell MacInnes, formerly Archbishop in Jerusalem, then resident in the Diocese of Salisbury, proposed to the Salisbury Diocesan Synod “that the Synod warmly endorses the proposal that a formal link be forged and maintained between the Dioceses of Salisbury and of the Sudan in order to strengthen their mutual friendship and support.” It was emphasised that the primary needs of the returning refugees would be met by national and international agencies, but specialised needs, such as clergy stipends and transport, the training of clergy, etc., must be provided in the first place by sister churches abroad. The Link came alive when, in June 1975, Bishop Elinana paid a visit to the Diocese of Salisbury, taking part in a large open-air service at Old Sarum to commemorate the 900th anniversary of the founding of the diocese and visiting a number of parishes. At the conclusion of a meeting for children, Bishop Elinana played to them a tape-recording of songs sung by the Sudanese when in exile. “The effect was electric. ‘That's in my language and that is what they sang to me when they welcomed me out of exile.'” In January 1976, the Bishop of Salisbury and his wife, George and Alix Reindorp, visited the Sudan and visits have been exchanged by bishops, clergy and others ever since, from which much has been gained by both sides.

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Perhaps the strongest manifestation of membership of the World Church was the meeting of what is called a ‘Partnership in Mission' consultation in Juba in1976 in preparation for the inauguration of the Anglican Province of the Sudan. The External Co-ordinator was Canon Simon Barrington-Ward, General Secretary of CMS, supported by representatives from the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Episcopal Church in Canada, the Episcopal Churches in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and the Diocese of Salisbury. Committees were set up, one for Planning and Finance, and the other Constitutional, in readiness for the Inauguration. With these thorough and solid preparations, the new Province came into being on 11th October 1976. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Donald Coggan, and Mrs Coggan, arrived in Khartoum on 9th October, only to find that travel to the South was prohibited owing to the prevalence of a killer disease which was sweeping the South – Marburg Disease, popularly known as Green Monkey Fever. However, on the evening of the 9th October, Dr and Mrs Coggan, accompanied by the Bishop of Omdurman, Butrus Tia Shukai, were received by President Nimeiri, who placed one of his own aeroplanes at their disposal for a day trip to Juba in order to carry out the Inauguration of the Province as planned. The party consisted of the President's Representative, Dr and Mrs Cogan, the Minister for the Social Services, the Minister for Religious Affairs, the Bishop of Omdurman and the Revd John Brown, representing the Sudan Church Association and acting as interpreter to the Archbishop. There was a tumultuous welcome in Juba. The Archbishop of Canterbury formally gave the Episcopal Church of the Sudan Provincial status and enthroned Bishop Elinana as the first Archbishop of the Sudan. Attendance at the service was limited by quarantine regulations but among those present were the Vice-President of the Sudan, Abel Alier, Muslim leaders in Juba, the Greek Orthodox Bishop in Juba and the Bishop of Rumbek, Benjamina Wani Yugusuk. During the Communion itself, “the Cathedral resounded to the joyful sound of young Sudanese singing the most lively English and vernacular choruses, and it is this wonderful sound that has accompanied us all day and sent us on our way rejoicing from Juba airport”, wrote the Revd John Brown.⁵⁶

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Into the Future

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Para 580

In a book of this sort, covering such a wide range of history, it is not possible to record in detail all the events of the 10 years of Elinana Ngalamu's incumbency as Archbishop of the Episcopal Church in the Sudan. Others will record in detail the history of Bishop Gwynne College, or the history of ACROSS, or the links with the Dioceses of Salisbury and Bradford. It is here possible only to summarise the main trends of those 10 years, 1976-86, in the Episcopal Church. Neither is it possible, at this stage, to include parallel developments which were taking place in other Churches in the Sudan. They too will also doubtless be recorded by the appropriate people.

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First, the role of the Archbishop himself. For the first time, a Sudanese voice was heard in the highest councils of the world-wide Anglican Communion. But it was not simply the fact of his presence which was significant, but the manner of his presence. Embodied in this man were qualities to be seen in the Sudanese Church as a whole as a result of the experiences they had been through. The very fact of the underdeveloped nature of the Southern Sudan produced men and women of great simplicity of life, a quality which the affluent churches of the West longed to recover. No palace, no limousine for this Archbishop. A small house with the minimum of amenities, a battered Land Rover, and a lifestyle which could not be other than that of the people amongst whom he lived – this was the nature of the Sudanese representative among the leaders of the World Church. Add to this the qualities gained by suffering endured triumphantly in the faith of Christ – “suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts” – and you have simplicity, a dignity, and a calm, rock-like faith which calls forth the respect and attention of all.

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Para 582

Second, the task of the Diocesan Bishops in facing the challenges of a rapidly expanding church. Little did the pioneers – Shaw, Fraser, Gibson, Gore and Ewell – realise how deeply and how effectively they had embedded in the minds of their converts the priority of evangelism. To be a Christian was to be a witness, and the desire to share the Gospel with those around them became the natural instinct of the Sudanese Church. And the people looked to their Bishops to be, first and foremost, their leaders in the evangelistic task. So we have the Archbishop, himself Bishop of the Diocese of Juba, establishing an outpost of the Church at Nimule on the Uganda border, and leading a Christian Convention among the largely unevangelised Mandari, between Juba and Bor. We see the Bishop of Rumbek, Benjamina Wani Yugusuk, with his donkeys and his swollen feet, leading and inspiring his gallant little band of Christian Nuba in their witness to their own people.

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Para 583

But such activities were immensely demanding, given the terrain and a climate such as the Sudan's, and they began to take their toll. After the long years of constant movement and the emotional strain of refugee life, the health of Bishop Yeremaya Kufuta Dotiro of Yambio began to deteriorate, and in 1983 he died in Khartoum, having literally ‘burned out for God'. He was succeeded by Daniel Zindo, consecrated Bishop of Yambio, and Joseh Marona, consecrated Assistant Bishop of Maridi, on 22nd April 1984. Clearly the time had come for the appointment of more Assistant Bishops to share the Episcopal duties of a rapidly expanding church, and in 1984 three Assistant Bishops were consecrated for the Diocese of Rumbek: Nathaniel Garang for Bor, John Malou for Wau and Eluzai Munda for Mundri. Two new Assistant Bishops were consecrated for the Diocese of Juba: Seme Solomona for Yei and Manase Binyi for Juba, and one more for the Diocese of Khartoum; Mubarak Khamis for Kadugli in the Nuba Mountains.

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Para 584

The third feature of church life which marked these years was the determined emphasis on theological training, whatever the odds. “A new generation of younger men are coming forward to lead the people of God during the stormy days ahead”, wrote Andy Wheeler of Bishop Gwynne College, prophetically, in 1984. Right from the start, the vital importance of leadership training had been recognised and Bishop Gwynne College had been established. Even after the destruction of the College in 1965, training was maintained as the highest priority of all, in the Theological Colleges of East and West Africa. With the end of the civil war, the rebuilding of Bishop Gwynne College (BGC) was again given the highest priority, and from its reopening in 1975 it was recognised as an institution of the highest quality, attracting a steady stream of young men and women with a vision for their country and a desire to serve it in the fellowship of the Church. Its importance was acknowledged by the World Church, and vital assistance in terms of men and money was given by the churches of several countries. The training programme was geared to the urgent needs of an expanding church through what is known as Theological Education by Extension – TEE. Pioneered in Guatemala in 1962, it rapidly spread to most countries of the world. The system is based on groups meeting for training in their own localities, using material produced by the central theological college, under the guidance of visiting tutors from the theological college. Thus Andy Wheeler pioneered TEE in the Southern Sudan from BGC as his base, and John Barff laid the foundation of TEE in the North from Omdurman Bible Training Institute as his base. Over and above training given at BGC, further training was arranged for selected men outside the Sudan – in East and West Africa, in Beirut, in England, in Northern Ireland and in the United States. Thus the Church in the Sudan tried to match the rate of expansion by a corresponding programme for the training of leaders to shepherd their flock, to strengthen it by sound teaching, and to lead it in the unfinished evangelistic task.

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Para 585

Although Bishop Gwynne College, under its Principal, the Revd Benaiah Poggo, was the main centre for Christian leadership training, it was by no means the only way by which the Church participated in this vital task. The Church had its representatives in a number of educational institutions – Juba Girls' Senior Secondary School, Juba Model School, Leadership Training Courses for Teachers in Government Schools in Juba and Omdurman, Lainya Trade School, Unity High School, Khartoum, the Episcopal Church Girls' School in Omdurman and the Omdurman Christian Clubs. Perhaps special mention should be made of United Christian Youth. In 1983, Archbishop Elinana wrote, “You will be encouraged to hear that many young people are seeking entry to Bishop Gwynne College to train for full-time church work. We thank God for this. Their enthusiasm for church work is increasing because of the activities of United Christian Youth which started in Juba. All tribes are working together and recently a group of young people visited Maridi, Yambio and Nzara and another group joined us in Bor. Now the young people are planning to visit Yei and Kajo-Kaji. Being young, they are full of zeal. They preach and sing with enthusiasm.”⁵⁷

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Para 586

Last but not least, the great work of ACROSS during these years must be recorded. ACROSS was involved in health services, vocational training, education, theological training, agriculture, the digging of wells and in the ministry to Ugandan refugees. “All this for a team of some 90 expatriates and 300 nationals entails a large logistic support, so some of us are vitally necessary as ‘back-room boys' in looking after transport, accounts and administration both in Nairobi and Juba.”⁵⁸

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Para 587

So the picture we have is of a strong, expanding Church, under a leadership which was a blend of maturity and youthful vigour, taking its place and playing its part in the life of the nation and in the Councils of the World Church – a Nile Harvest indeed.

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But even while the Church was growing in strength, during the years following the Addis Ababa Agreement of 1972, political unrest in the North precipitated a chain of events which were to bring the period of peaceful development to an end. It is difficult to imagine the forces and pressures which impinge remorselessly on a national leader, especially if he lacks the essential support of a political power base which has brought him to power through a democratic process of election. President Nimeiri came to power by a coup in which he was very dependent on the support of a few close associates. He gained popular support in both North and South by the firm decisions which he was able to take and the steady direction in which he steered the ship of State. But by sweeping aside the normal democratic processes, by driving into exile in opposition the traditional parties of the North, he was storing up trouble for the future. A small group of right-wing army officers staged an abortive coup against Nimeiri on 5th September 1975. A far more serious threat came from the Mahdists in exile, led by Sadiq el Mahdi and Sharif Hussein el Hindi. On 2nd July 1976, a carefully planned attack was made on Khartoum by the Mahdists, who had infiltrated into the Sudan from neighbouring countries. They were supported by an assortment of foreign nationals from the neighbouring states. The coup failed and the leaders escaped. But these two threats to his position seem to have undermined Nimeiri's confidence and from then on his actions became unpredictable. In a desperate attempt to gain the support of the traditional political parties of the North, he publicly pardoned Sadiq el Mahdi and Sharif Hussein el Hindi in July 1977, granted a general amnesty to all political prisoners, and included in his Government some of those who had been in opposition. But these steps seem to have had the opposite effect. Soon the President found himself under pressure to turn the Sudan into an Islamic State, thus abandoning the basis of the Addis Ababa Agreement with the South. The situation in the South was not helped by apparent differences among the Southern leaders based on tribal loyalties. In January 1980 President Nimeiri dissolved the Southern Assembly and dismissed its Cabinet, replacing it by an interim Government under General Gasim Allah Abdallah Rasas. On 23rd February 1981 the President brought to an end the political unity of the South as one Region and divided it into three. When the Council for the Unity of the Southern Sudan made a formal protest, the leaders were arrested. When the boys of Rumbek Senior Secondary School demonstrated against the decision to divide the South, the School was closed. So the official division of the South into three Regions, and the destruction of its unity, came into force on 5th June 1983.

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“Unfortunately for Nimeiri, things did not work his way in the South: 17 years of war were not in vain. The master calculator, who thought that having subdued the North he would now get away with this one too, had a shock. Instead of a committee of Southern elders striving to instil some sanity into the President's mind (not a very easy task after 1982), Nimeiri found himself facing a military insurrection led by younger elements, many of whom had been trained in the ranks of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Their claim was no longer secession or autonomy but rather to rid the whole country of Nimeiri. The elders were no longer at the helm and the young were talking with bullets.”⁵⁹

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Para 590

In May 1983, an attempt to transfer a number of ex-guerrillas in the Sudanese Army out of the South and replace them with Northerners precipitated mutinies in Bor, Pibor and Pochalla. Among the mutineers was Colonel John Garang, and American-educated Bor Dinka, who was elected commander of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the SPLA, and the second civil war had begun. In September 1983 a new penal code was introduced based on five canonical Islamic punishments, and Nimeiri announced that he would work towards the full Islamification of the Sudan. Sadiq el Mahdi accused Nimeiri of opportunism and of applying Islamic punishments to protect his regime. Southern leaders opposed the Islamic amendments to the Constitution in Khartoum. They were supported by some Northern members and the proposed amendments were defeated in the National Assembly in July 1948. “Debt, a ruined economy, corruption within the government, famine, the war in the South and an increasingly oppressive application of Shari’a law in the nation's capital finally produced enough popular dissatisfaction to overthrow Nimeiri while he was on a state visit to the United States in April 1985. In response to mass demonstrations in Khartoum, Nimeiri was removed by his defence minister, General Suwar el Dahab, who formed a Transitional Military Council and appointed a civilian cabinet composed of politicians and trade union leaders.”⁶⁰

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 591

The Sudan People's Liberation Army, the SPLA, soon became a formidable force equipped with modern weapons. With periods of disagreement, it was supported and strengthened by Anya Nya II, the remnants of Anya Nya I who had rejected the terms of the Addis Ababa Agreement and continued guerrilla activity in the bush. The activities of the SPLA extended from Kurmuk in the north to Kapoeta in the south, and from the Boma Plateau in the east to the Bahr el Arab River in the west, and beyond to the southern slopes of the Nuba Mountains. It had the effect of driving people from their homes to seek security in the towns, leading to serious overcrowding in the provincial capitals Juba, Wau and Malakal, and the national capital Khartoum. Bishop Benjamina found himself cut off in Rumbek, able to reach Juba only by air. Bishop John Malou was tragically killed when the plane in which he was travelling was shot down by the SPLA. Bishop Gwynne College continued steadily with its courses until July 1987 when Mundri was attacked by the SPLA and four ACROSS workers were kidnapped, later to be released unharmed for away on the Kenya-Uganda border. Fortunately, the college term had ended and only staff were in residence, and they were evacuated first to Maridi, then to Yambio and Yei, and finally to Juba. All ACROSS staff, along with the staff of other relief agencies, were finally expelled from the South in April 1988. Bishop Nathaniel Garang was cut off in Bor District and has remained out of touch with the rest of the Church to this day, carrying out a truly remarkable ministry of evangelism in SPLA-occupied territory.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 592

Inevitably, the strain began to tell on the health of Archbishop Elinana. Having attended a Primates' meeting in Toronto, he arrived in Salisbury on 3rd April 1986 with a troublesome hip and with symptoms of diabetes. On arrival in Khartoum, he seemed overwhelmed by the problems which confronted him and collapsed. He was sent to Nairobi for rest and treatment. During his absence, responsibility fell upon Bishop Benjamina as Dean of the Province. During 1986 he was a member of a Peace Mission to visit the Prime Minister, Sadiq el Mahdi in Khartoum and Colonel Joseph Garang in Addis Ababa, in a combined attempt by the Churches to persuade the leaders to meet and consider ways of attaining a permanent peace. Bishop Benjamina wrote, “While in Juba, we linked with the Catholic Church. This led us to choose five Church leaders to go to see Prime Minister Sadiq el Mahdi in Khartoum and John Garang in Addis Ababa. We were: Archbishop Paulino Lukudu, Catholic; Revd Michael Lugor, ECS; Father Constantino Pitya, Catholic; Brother Sofronio Efuk, Catholic Pressman; Bishop Benjamina Yugusuk, ECS. They were all from the South, and Catholic Archbishop Gabriel Zuber joined in Khartoum. The Peace Mission took us one-and-a-half months, following the truth and sincerity of the Gospel, because we do not want to be misunderstood or misused. We went with two important points, hunger and the war itself, which caused people to die by hunger and guns, and when will the war end. We saw Sadiq el Mahdi in Khartoum for three hours, talking of relief food and war in the South of Sudan. Also we John Garang in Addis Ababa, meeting with him and his SPLA officers for three days talking of the same things. We did not bring peace back with us to the South, but we thank God because both sides agreed to resume peace talks again.”⁶¹

Part 3: Harvest
Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 593

Feeling that the prolonged illness of Archbishop Elinana following his stroke in May, and his slow recovery in Nairobi, left the Church without effective leadership at a specially critical time, the Dean of the Province called a meeting of the Episcopal Council 13th -17th October 1986 (the House of Bishops together with a Judge representing the Chancellor, and six other lay persons), and after thorough consultation and much prayer came to the following conclusions:

Part 3: Harvest
Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 594

1. The province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan should be enlarged by creating more Dioceses: Maridi, Mundri, Yei, Wau, Bor, Eastern Equatoria (Juba itself to be a Diocese) and Kadugli.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 595

2. We resolved that, as we found no evidence regarding the charges brought against the Provincial Secretary, he is to return to the office.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 596

3. We reviewed the Provincial Constitution and found that the Archbishop Elinana Ngalamu is to retire at the end of his 10-year term. His time in office should not be extended for a further five years because he is tired.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 597

4. It has also been resolved that the See of the Archbishop of the ECS should be moved from Juba to Khartoum in the next term of the Province.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 598

5. We proposed the Provincial Assembly should be called from 14th February 1987, and that all our proposals should be passed at that time.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 599

In the meantime, Bishop Benjamina as Dean of the Province will carry out all the pastoral and administrative functions of Archbishop until a new Archbishop has been duly elected and appointed. The election is in the hands of the Chancellor.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 600

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council have both been informed.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 601

The appointment of a new Bishop of Khartoum will await the decision of the Electoral College at the time of the General Assembly.”⁶²

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 602

After waiting for several months, the Diocesan Bishops felt compelled to put into motion the machinery, as laid down in the Constitution, to elect a new Archbishop, and Bishop Benjamina Wani Yugusuk was elected. His election was recognised by Lambeth Palace with a recommendation to all other Primates of the Anglican Communion to give Bishop Benjamina their support. He was duly enthroned as Archbishop in Juba Cathedral on 28th February 1988. In the meantime, Archdeacon Bulus Idris was consecrated Bishop of Khartoum in Khartoum Cathedral on 18th August 1987, more than two years after the death of Bishop Butrus Tia Shukai, with Butrus Kua Kori as his Assistant Bishop, the Bishop of Egypt, the Rt Revd Ghais Abdel Malik, being the Preacher at the Service of Consecration. And on 17th January 1988, Gabriel Roric Jur was consecrated Bishop of Wau in succession to Bishop John Malou Ater.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 603

Conclusion

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 604

In recent months, the world has been shocked by the succession of disasters which have befallen the Sudan – famine, drought, floods, locusts, civil war. The normal rhythm of life in both the North and the South has been tragically disrupted. In a normally productive land, harvests have failed. The compassion of the world has been aroused.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 605

Inevitably, these disasters have been reflected in the life of the Church, taking their toll in terms of the disruption of normal Church life, the destruction of Church buildings and intolerable strain upon Church leaders. The sympathy, the understanding, the love, prayers and practical help of the World Church have been kindled.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 606

Miraculously, the spiritual harvest of souls has continued, in spite of overwhelming odds, and at grass roots the Church continues to survive, to grow and even to rejoice.

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 607

“What has the Church in Sudan got to teach us?”, people ask. They can show the face of Christ in the poor. They can lead us from the euphemisms of our illusions towards reality. They can recall us to the God who is a very present help in time of trouble. They can teach us perhaps that the Christian life is more than the smell of wine in old buildings, more than beautiful music, more than repairing ruins, more than choruses and hand-clapping. It is about suffering and sorrow, about sharing, about struggling on in the heat and standing up and being counted.” So writes Simon May, ordination candidate, after five years at the heart of the conflict in Juba.⁶³

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Chpt 3: The Episcopal Church in the Sudan
Para 608

“Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, whose divine providence ordereth all things upon earth: We pray thee in thy infinite mercy to preserve the peoples of the Sudan. Let the shadow of thy protection be over them in town and countryside, in mountain, forest and desert. Guard them, we beseech thee, from all disaster of famine, sickness and bloodshed. Pour into their hearts and minds thy most precious gift of understanding, so that they may bring peace into their feuds, justice into their councils, loving-kindness into their homes, and may cast away the work of darkness from their lives, through Jesus Christ out Lord. Amen.”⁶⁴