CISA NEWS REPORT
KHARTOUM, April 12, 2013 (CISA) -Sudan’s security services expelled a South Sudanese senior catholic priest together with other expatriate religious personnel the same day the Sudanese president made his first official visit to Juba.
Rev Fr Santino Morokomomo Maurino, the secretary-general of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference in Khartoum, arrived on Friday April 12 in Juba after being deported by the security services for undisclosed reasons.
Fr Maurino told CRN that he was called to National Intelligence and Security Services headquarters where he was briefly detained and given three days to buy an air ticket and leave the country for no reason and without a chance to defend himself.
He said he was expelled together with two foreign religious brothers who were living at Catholic Language Institute-Khartoum, CLIK.
Their activities were under the surveillance of the secret services.
The two expatriate missionaries expelled together with Fr Maurino were Frenchman Michel Fleury and Egyptian Brother Hossam from De la Salle Brothers.
Both were working with children in Khartoum.
Fr Maurino arrived at Juba International Airport, ahead of President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan on his first official visit to South Sudan.
Fr Maurino said he did not trust that Khartoum would implement the Four Freedoms Agreement allowing South Sudanese to live, work, own property and engage in business in South Sudan.
He said Christians were in trouble in the Sudan.
Fr Maurino denounced that Christians are being persecuted because the regime wants to islamize the country and eliminate the Christian presence.
Meanwhile, the Presidents of South Sudan and Sudan on Friday pledged commitment to implement the Cooperation Agreements signed on September 27 last year and strengthen relations between the two countries.
President Salva Kiir and his counterpart Omar al Bashir presided over a joint meeting and issued a communiqué reiterating both countries commitments to implement the Cooperation Agreements with honesty and to the letter.
The two presidents agreed to form a joint ministerial committee headed by the two vice presidents to speed decision making and promote better relationships between Sudan and South Sudan.
President Salva Kiir and President Omar Al Bashir said they were happy with the progress in the implementation of the matrix on security, oil and banking.
SHARED FROM CISA NEWS
Comments