Two churches in Port Sudan were defaced in coordinated acts of vandalism, with Islamic declarations painted in red graffiti on their exterior walls. The incidents occurred last week in the center of the city’s market area.

At the Sudan Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Islamic Shahadah, which reads “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger,” was scrawled alongside a Qur’anic verse, “There is no God but He, the Lord of the Honorable Throne,” the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

On the walls of the nearby Orthodox Church, vandals sprayed the phrase “Allah is eternal.”

Both churches are located across from a police station and near government offices in Port Sudan, which functions as the country’s de facto capital.

Security camera footage captured the incident at the Orthodox Church as a group arrived in a car and one person exited with a red spray can before approaching the church wall.

The attacks come amid Sudan’s deepening civil war between the Sudan Armed Forces, or SAF, and the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, which began in April 2023. With Khartoum engulfed in violence, Port Sudan became a refuge for hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians and the administrative base for SAF leadership. The city had been considered a safe zone, though the recent vandalism has raised concern among religious minorities.

Despite the churches’ prominent location in a busy public area, local authorities have reportedly taken no action in response to the graffiti.

Leaders of the Evangelical church decided not to file a complaint in an effort to avoid inflaming community tensions. Instead, congregants painted over the graffiti in an attempt to make it resemble abstract artwork.

A church member described the situation as “alarming,” saying, “Only God knows what will come next if such a hate crime is tolerated.”

CSW’s CEO Scot Bower urged authorities in Port Sudan to investigate the incidents, warning that religious intolerance had surged during the conflict. He said Christian communities should be able to worship without fear.

Christians in Sudan’s northern states, particularly those from the Nuba Mountains, have long faced layers of discrimination. In these areas, residents of Darfuri Arab descent are frequently accused of links to the RSF, and restrictions on freedom of movement are enforced through a policy known as “Strange Faces.” The policy targets people from western Sudan who are subjected to arbitrary detention and emergency court procedures that have led to death sentences.

In one such incident in September, armed police destroyed temporary shelters in Atbara, River Nile State, targeting civilians who had fled fighting and received no aid. Authorities ordered the group to return to Khartoum, even as the city remained unsafe.

Sudan is currently experiencing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. Around 12 million people have been displaced, and 30 million require humanitarian assistance.

In October, evangelist Franklin Graham condemned RSF fighters for carrying out executions after seizing the city of el-Fasher in Darfur. Graham said he had received video evidence showing civilians being shot in the head, with “piles of bodies” left behind.

The BBC verified some of these videos, which included an RSF fighter known as Abu Lulu shooting nine unarmed captives while others cheered. One clip geolocated to a university building showed an armed man executing an unarmed individual seated among corpses. BBC Verify determined that other killings had occurred in rural areas near the city.

The RSF, led by Gen. Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, grew out of the Janjaweed militia that carried out mass killings in Darfur during the early 2000s. Dagalo, who comes from an Arab camel-trading family in Darfur, expanded the force through militia networks and gold revenues. The group’s ranks have grown to an estimated 100,000 fighters and have received support from countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Russia.

Sudan’s army recently filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing the UAE of violating the Genocide Convention by supporting the RSF. The UAE dismissed the filing as a publicity stunt.

Since the fall of former President Omar al-Bashir in 2019, Dagalo has been a central power player, leading a coup that derailed Sudan’s transitional government. The current war began after a breakdown in relations between Dagalo and Army Chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan.

The RSF controls large swaths of Darfur and parts of Kordofan and has announced plans to establish a parallel government in areas under its control.

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