By Our Reporter
A shipment of Bibles reported to have been held in a Sudanese port for six years has been cleared by the country government for distribution.
According to Christian Today, the Bibles were held at Port Sudan and were ‘decaying’ in shipping containers, though the country’s 2 million Christians were short of Bibles and teaching materials.
A source told World Watch Monitor (WWM) the bibles were released a fortnight ago and transported to Sudan’s capital, Khartoum.
The release of the Bibles, according to Christian Today came after Sudanese authorities returned 19 properties to the Sudanese Church of Christ, two years after it confiscated them in a long-running dispute between the government and the church over the ownership of the properties.
A court ruled against the government in August and ordered the return of the properties, and that the case against five church leaders should be dropped.
WMM’s source claimed the government had delayed clearing the Bibles since 2011. Media reports show that Sudan is an Islamic state where Christians routinely face discrimination and harassment.
In October last year a senior church leader, who has overseen the import of hundreds of thousands of Bibles and other pieces of Christian literature to Sudan, told World Watch Monitor the Bible Society had not received any new Bibles to distribute in Sudan since 2013.
Sudan is fourth on the 2018 Open Doors World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
