DATE=6/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=US-SUDAN (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263903
BYLINE=LUIS RAMIREZ
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Some U-S lawmakers and religious freedom
advocates are calling again for renewed attention to
what they say are continued atrocities committed by
Sudan's Muslim-led government against Christians and
animists. V-O-A's Luis Ramirez in Washington reports
on a gathering of advocates of religious freedom.
TEXT: Advocates of religious freedom in the United
States have consistently condemned what they say is a
bloody crackdown by the Muslim-led government in
Khartoum against Christians and animists in the
southern regions of Sudan.
Among those participating in a panel discussion
(Monday) was exiled Sudanese Roman Catholic Bishop
Macram Max Gassis, who has been defying the government
by sneaking into the country periodically to conduct
his ministry. Bishop Gassis tells V-O-A the
government is using religion to fuel Sudan's 17-year-
old civil war.
/// GASSIS ACT ///
This is definitely not Islam. They are using
religion as a leverage to oppress, to terrorize,
to enrich themselves. This is an ideology.
This is no religion. This is no Islam. This is
a political and economic ideology that is using
Islam to terrorize, to kill, to assassinate, to
exploit to enslave, to rape. Does Islam say
that? That these things are good? Islam
doesn't say that these are good.
/// END ACT ///
In its first report last month to the U-S Secretary of
State, President Clinton, and the Congress, the U-S
Commission on International Religious Freedom named
Sudan as the nation of top concern in regard to
religious freedom. The report accused the government
in Khartoum of using force to impose Islam on non-
Muslims, and called for sanctions against Sudan.
Earlier this year, U-S Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright condemned the Sudanese government's bombing
of a hospital and an air attack on a Catholic school
that killed 14 children in the southern Nuba
mountains. But Mrs. Albright has said the United
States is doing everything possible to end the war and
has been making an effort to engage the Sudanese
government in a constructive dialogue.
Officials at the Sudanese mission to the United
Nations were not available for comment despite
repeated calls by V-O-A. In the past, the government
has said its attacks are justified in its battle
against rebels in the south.
A Clinton administration source, speaking anonymously,
said the international news media needs to focus more
attention on southern Sudan as part of the effort to
bring the conflict to an end. (SIGNED)
NEB/LR/JP
29-Jun-2000 15:43 PM EDT (29-Jun-2000 1943 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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