Sudan/Bashir Update and Reflections

The picture of the situation in Sudan in the wake of the official ICC indictment of Sudan President Omar al Bashir is beginning to fill out and come into focus as more complete news reports are gathered. The New York Times carried a story about the ICC arrest warrant and the response it has evoked in today’s edition (click here to read it). Apparently about 10 international aid-related NGOs have been targeted for expulsion from the country in reprisal for the ICC move, some speculate because they are suspected to have been involved in gathering and reporting data related to the atrocities orchestrated and implemented by the Bashir government. In addition to the Dutch arm of Doctors Without Borders (mentioned earlier), Oxfam, CARE, and Save the Children are among those groups whose operating licences have been revoked, foreign personnel ordered to leave the country and – reportedly in some cases – assests have been seized.

In Torit, the response has been subdued. The local offices of the National Congress Party (Bashir’s own party) displayed this banner repudiating the ICC decision.


Some people have reported a slight increase in troop movement on the roads and heightened alertness among military and UN personnel.

The Word of God read in the Church’s daily liturgy often has an amazing prophetic ability to illuminate current events. Yesterday, we heard the story of the totally unexpected conversion of the sinful pagan city of Nineveh – from the (presumably) despotic king on down to the humblest housemaid – at the reluctant preaching of Jonah. Today in the second lesson of the Office of Readings of the Liturgy of the Hours, St. Asterius of Amasea reminds us “not to think of any man as lost or beyond hope. We must not easily despair of those who are in danger or be slow to help them.” And yet the first reading of Mass today recounts how God – in response to the anguished prayer of Esther – moves the heart of the king to prevent the genocide of the Jews and remove the man who planned it from power. I suppose, taking it all together, it means that we have to pray with real hope for the conversion and salvation of President Bashir, even while repudiating in the strongest possible terms the atrocities committed in Darfur and seeking justice for those responsible.

A final thought on today’s Gospel (Mt 7:7-12). Jesus urges us to ask, seek, knock so that we may receive, find and enter. He promises us that our efforts will be rewarded and meet with success because of the Father’s goodness and love for us. And yet we are all familiar with the experience of asking and not receiving, seeking without finding and knocking at a door that wont open. Does that mean the Lord’s words are not true or that He is not faithful to His promises? Does it not mean instead that we are probably asking for the wrong things, looking in the wrong places and knocking at the wrong doors? Both James 4:3 and Romans 8:26 suggest that we might be going about things in the wrong way. Maybe if we adapted our requests, looked in a different direction and tried some new doors the results would be more positive. Perhaps that’s part of the lesson Jesus wants us to learn in urging us to persevere in prayer and not give up until we’ve obtained from the Father the “good things” we really need and most truly desire.