Sudanese Christians were wounded yesterday Sunday by gunfire at a church in a suburb of Khartoum, the camps of the two generals who have been embroiled in a merciless war for power in Sudan, blaming each other for the attack, said.

“Continuing on the path of violations of international laws and customs, paramilitary rebels (…) opened fire inside the church [της συνοικίας] Masalama in Omdurman,” according to an army statement under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, referring to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitaries.

“The DTY denounces the fire fired by an extremist terrorist organization linked to the coup forces inside the Mar Jirjis Church of the Al Masalama district in Omdurman, which seriously injured worshippers,” the paramilitaries of General Mohamed Hamdan Daglo countered in their own statement.

At the same time, they condemned the “campaign to defame our forces, which are largely made up of Christians”.

Envoys of the two rival generals are currently negotiating in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to implement the “declaration on the protection of civilians in Sudan” they signed on Thursday.

The text, which was negotiated by the two sides with Saudi and American mediation, provides for the creation of “safe passages” that will allow civilians to leave the areas where conflicts are raging as well as facilities for the distribution of humanitarian aid.

It does not, however, refer to a ceasefire, only to future talks on a temporary ceasefire and later to “expanded talks on a permanent cessation of hostilities”, which are now a month old and have claimed at least 750 lives – according to the official account, which is considered to be greatly underestimated–, have injured at least 5,000 others and turned 900,000 Sudanese into internally displaced persons and refugees.

Authorities estimate that Christians make up 3% of the population; however, Sudanese Christian churches say the figure is much higher.

The minority, which includes Copts, Catholics, Anglicans and others, was largely forced underground when the military and Islamist dictatorship of General Omar El Bashir (1989-2019) ruled the African country.