NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — After it was converted into a paramilitary base, its pews chopped into firewood by soldiers and its compound turned into a graveyard, All Saints Cathedral in Khartoum, the war-ravaged Sudanese capital, is rising again.
In October, the cathedral, the seat of the Church of Sudan, a member of the Anglican Communion, resumed activities, albeit with only a few people, according to Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo. “At present, it is a small congregation and people are returning. I am very pleased,” Kondo told Religion News Service.
Those congregants are believed to be some of the 1.2 million Sudanese people who have returned to Khartoum and other cities after troops aligned with Sudan’s government pushed out the rebel paramilitary Rapid Support Forces nearly a year ago. Driven by hope and resilience, the returning population is braving devastated infrastructure, lack of basic services and security risks.
Despite the government forces’ victory last March, the political leadership has only recently returned to the capital, which it abandoned in April 2023 amid intensified fighting, relocating to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan. “Today, we return. The government of hope returns to the national capital,” Prime Minister Kamil Idris told reporters in Khartoum in January.
Sudan, red, in northeast Africa. (Map cour …