Baptists around the world are among organizations mobilizing for relief in western Sudan, where thousands have died in ethnic violence that some label genocide.
More than 1.2 million people have been displaced in the western Sudanese region of Darfur in what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than 2 million people in need of aid.
A contingent of Rwandan troops, the first foreign soldiers deployed in the struggle pitting Arabic nomads against African villages, headed to Darfur this weekend, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the AP reported, the U.N. food agency said it had reached a deal with rebel leaders to allow truck supplies to areas under their control.
The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger has provided about $31, 500 so far to the Sudan Interior Church and its refugee support program, according to the Baptist Standard. The allocation is part of a larger program sponsored by the Baptist World Alliance, in association with the Baptist General Convention of Texas and its Christian Life Commission.
The American Baptist Churches, U.S.A., World Relief Office will be releasing $20,000 in One Great Hour of Sharing emergency funds to provide assistance in the violence-torn Darfur region, according to American Baptist News Service. The funds will be sent to the ecumenical agency Church World Service to fund its relief efforts and those of its partner organizations.
An initial emergency grant of $5,000 from the Southern Baptist World Hunger Fund purchased food and grain for refugee camps, according to Baptist Press.
BMS World Mission in London made a Relief Fund grant of $5,000 through Baptist World Aid, which will transfer the money to a Sudanese partner organization.
Baptist World Aid, the relief arm of the Baptist World Alliance, has projects in Sudan for HIV/Aids awareness, relief and development, refugee assistance and support fo widows and destitute women responsible for families after their husbands died in the war.
Click here to learn how to designate gifts for Sudan through Baptist World Aid.
