After Catholic priest’s murder, human rights group urges Sudan to address tensions
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has urged Sudanese authorities to take concrete measures to ease tensions after the murder of Father Youhanna Al‑Amin in the Nuba Mountains on June 19, 2026. The priest, who served the Diocese of El Obeid for nearly 30 years, was killed after reporting the theft of medicines intended for the local population, an act believed to be retaliation by armed tribal factions. CSW’s report highlights ongoing conflict in the Nuba Mountains, where tribal disputes and armed groups such as the SPLM‑N have intensified, prompting many religious workers to flee the region. The murder has shocked the Diocese of El Obeid and prompted calls from the local church and CSW for international intervention to end Sudan’s devastating conflict.
3 months ago
Father Youhanna Al‑Amin, a longtime Catholic priest in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains, was killed on 19 June 2026 along with a parish watchman and another local person. Human‑rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) has called on Sudanese authorities and the international community to take concrete steps to defuse rising tribal tensions and protect civilians in the region 1.
The Nuba Mountains, part of Sudan’s West Kordofan province, have been a flashpoint of armed conflict for years, involving the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement‑North (SPLM‑N) and various tribal militias. The area is home to a large Christian population, and churches often serve as shelters and providers of health care 2.
Al‑Amin, the pastor of St Vincent’s Kauda Parish in the Diocese of El Obeid, was murdered after reportedly reporting the theft of medicines that the Church was safeguarding for vulnerable residents. Local sources say the attack was a retaliation linked to escalating tribal disputes between the Otoro, Shawaya and Kawaleeb groups, all of which have significant Christian membership 1 2.
CSW founder‑president Mervyn Thomas condemned the killing and urged the SPLM‑N authorities in Kauda to implement concrete measures to reduce tensions, protect citizens, and allow humanitarian aid to reach the population. He also called on the international community to intensify efforts to end Sudan’s broader conflict 1.
In the months preceding the murder, land‑demarcation decisions by SPLM‑N sparked clashes between the Otoro and Shawaya tribes, which later spread to the Kawaleeb tribe. Economic pressures, including shortages of food and medicine among armed groups, have further fueled violence. Both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces have been reported to use churches as military bases, heightening the risk to worshippers 2.
Al‑Amin’s death sent shockwaves through the Diocese of El Obeid, where he had served for nearly three decades, first as a seminarian, then deacon, and finally parish priest. His parishioners remembered him as a “friend of the youth and the children” who remained with his flock despite deteriorating humanitarian conditions 1.
The incident underscores the precarious position of religious leaders in Sudan’s conflict zones, where churches function as both spiritual centers and essential service providers, yet are increasingly caught in the crossfire of tribal and armed‑group rivalries 2.
Examine the Church’s role in safeguarding clergy amid Sudanese conflicts
The Church’s role in safeguarding clergy amid Sudanese conflicts is not primarily about replacing civil security forces; it is about protection through advocacy, humanitarian assistance, religious freedom, and pastoral care, grounded in the Church’s duty to serve victims and to ensure that her ministers can carry out their mission without fear.
In Catholic teaching, clergy (and religious personnel more broadly) are not protected only as “employees,” but as ministers whose presence serves the spiritual good of the people—especially the weak and vulnerable during war.
Pope John Paul II describes the Church in conflict as sharing the people’s anguish and seeking to serve “those in need,” offering charitable relief “regardless of religious differences,” while also asking only for “the freedom to fulfil its religious and humanitarian mission.”
That framing matters for safeguarding clergy: when violence and breakdown of public order make religious life impossible, the Church’s safeguarding focus includes securing the conditions under which clergy can minister, so that worship, charity, and pastoral care remain available.
Similarly, Pope John Paul II emphasizes that war and restricted liberties profoundly affect “the whole life of the Church,” meaning that safeguarding clergy is inseparable from safeguarding the Church’s ability to continue its mission “with undiminished courage and an ever greater reliance upon him.”
A central Church safeguard is public moral advocacy—condemning abuses and urging negotiating peace, so that violence does not swallow up religious personnel and institutions.
In a 2023 message addressing the situation in Sudan, Catholic bishops explicitly note the war’s impact on Church life and personnel. They describe the conflict as bringing “the destruction of property, including Church’s property,” along with “massive displacement” and “resultant humanitarian crises.”
In a letter connected to the same concern, Catholic bishops say they will continue to provide “moral support and solidarity” to brothers and sisters in Sudan and specifically add that they are “welcoming those Church personnel who have fled” while “speaking out internationally and regionally on their behalf.”
This is a safeguarding function in the Church’s prophetic role: by naming violations, supporting affected Church personnel, and bringing international attention, the Church works to reduce the impunity and neglect that often place clergy at heightened risk.
The Church’s advocacy also connects clergy safeguarding to broader justice and peace. Bishops appeal to “respect the will of the Sudanese people,” condemn daily human-rights abuses, and call for dialogue and dialogue-based resolution.
Pope John Paul II likewise urges those in authority to “put aside the arms of war and pursue the path of peace,” grounding that appeal in respect for human dignity and rights—especially for the weak and powerless.
The Church safeguards clergy also by providing humanitarian care and continuity-of-mission measures when war causes flight, displacement, or collapse of services.
Catholic bishops describe an explicit Church response: “We shall continue to play our main role which is humanitarian,” through Caritas and other humanitarian agencies, to support and care for refugees coming from Sudan.
They further state that the Church in South Sudan will welcome Church personnel who have fled and will provide moral support and solidarity, rather than leaving displaced ministers isolated.
Pope John Paul II provides the theological-historical basis for this humanitarian stance: the Church shares the people’s anguish and offers relief resources for the homeless and famine-stricken “regardless of religious differences,” cooperating in building social solidarity and moral values—while still requesting freedom for the Church’s religious and humanitarian work.
So, safeguarding clergy during conflict is not only about physical safety in the narrow sense; it includes ensuring that clergy can still participate in the Church’s charitable mission and minister to displaced communities under conditions of minimal stability.
Catholic teaching also highlights a protection framework that comes from international humanitarian law—the body of norms that tries to limit suffering in war, especially toward non-combatants.
Pope Francis, addressing military chaplains, explains that humanitarian law aims to protect those who “do not participate in the conflict,” including “the civilian population or healthcare workers and religious personnel.”
This matters directly for Sudanese clergy: clergy and religious personnel are among those humanitarian law seeks to protect precisely because they are not combatants.
Archbishop Gabriele Caccia similarly emphasizes civilian protection in armed conflict and explicitly includes places of worship within the logic of protected civilian objects. In his address, he states that religious sites often provide “assistance, aid, and even protection,” and concludes that they are “objects akin to schools or hospitals and thus should benefit from similar protection.”
In other words, safeguarding clergy also means safeguarding the environment of ministry: worship sites and religious institutions. When places of worship are attacked or used as targets, clergy are placed under direct threat, and the community’s access to spiritual and humanitarian assistance collapses.
War damages people spiritually as well as physically, and Catholic sources treat the clergy’s pastoral function—and their own vulnerability—as a serious matter.
Pope Francis describes chaplains’ role toward those who have witnessed atrocities: their families need “special pastoral attention” so that they can feel the Church’s “motherly closeness.” He then describes the chaplain’s concrete pastoral tools: “the balm of the Word of God,” and offering “the grace of the Eucharist and of Reconciliation.”
While this passage is about military chaplains, the underlying logic extends to any clergy serving communities amid violence: the Church safeguards not only the ministry from danger, but the ability to continue ministering—by ensuring access to sacraments and spiritual care, and by accompanying those traumatized by war.
Catholic formation initiatives linked to chaplaincy also reinforce safeguarding through education in humanitarian principles. The same address ties pastoral action to humanitarian-law aims, including protecting civilians and religious personnel.
It is important to be precise about what the Church can and cannot do.
The Church’s role is real and influential—advocacy, humanitarian aid, pastoral accompaniment, and moral witness—but it does not replace the duties of states and armed actors to respect protections under law and common responsibility. The Church can call for protection, but compliance depends on those with coercive power.
A useful Catholic reference point for this division of responsibilities is the principle found in a concordat text describing how a state should protect clergy. For example, Article 5 of the 1933 concordat between the Holy See and the German Reich states that, in spiritual activities, clergy “enjoy the protection of the State,” and that the State will take proceedings against “outrage offered to the clergy personally” or interference with duties, providing official protection if needed.
Even though this is not a Sudan-specific agreement, it expresses a general Catholic juridical intuition: safeguarding clergy is properly a matter of public protection of religious office, especially against personal violence or interference with ministry.
That general principle harmonizes with what Sudan-focused Catholic sources emphasize: bishops appeal to international and political authorities to stop violence, facilitate dialogue, and ensure access for humanitarian aid—conditions without which clergy protection becomes impossible.
Amid Sudanese conflict, the Church safeguards clergy through a coordinated approach: prophetic advocacy that names abuse and seeks peace, humanitarian support (including welcoming displaced Church personnel), a defense of religious freedom so clergy can carry out their mission, and the moral-legal protection of religious personnel and worship sites under humanitarian norms, all complemented by pastoral accompaniment that sustains spiritual care in trauma.