Sudan (MNN) — Two years of civil war in Sudan have left the nation unraveling. Outright famine has been confirmed in at least 10 areas. Approximately half of Sudan’s population — 25 million people — are in extreme levels of hunger according to the UN World Food Program. The scale is almost more than a person can understand.

“Because of the killing that [are] going on, people were not allowed [to] … plant anything. That’s why there is no harvest,” explains Bishop Dr. Yassir Eric, a partner of Horizons International.

Child in Sudan (Photo courtesy of Abdulaziz Mohammed/Unsplash)

“The situation is very, very severe, because two rainy seasons pass by, and people are not able to do anything. And now in Darfur, the killing is also going on, and those who manage to plant anything, the rebels [come] and then put everything on fire.” 

The Darfur killings Bishop Eric refers to happened last week, when the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group assaulted one famine-struck refugee camp called Zamzam (among other locations in Sudan’s western Darfur region). The attacks displaced an estimated 400,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Although this latest episode was done by the RSF, its chief opponent, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), has committed horrific acts against civilians as well.

“Jesus is our God, and He’s the God of the suffering,” Bishop Eric says. “This is actually the difference between Allah in Islam and God in the Bible. In our suffering, we know He feels with us.”

Please pray for God’s mercy on Sudan’s crises and find your place in the story. 

“We need to see people that are helping there, and to back them up, give them the resources that they need, so that to engage, not only in helping people that famine will go away, but that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ,” Bishop Eric says.

“I know and I believe that all things [work] for good — even this terrible situation, a beauty could come out of that, if we pray and if we give, and if we go.”

Click here to financially support Bishop Dr. Yassir Eric’s ministry in Sudan.

 

Header photo is a stock image courtesy of Lara Jameson via Pexels.