THREE churches in Blue Nile State, Sudan, were burned down twice after Christmas, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported.

Reports by the Human Rights and Development Organization (HUDO), a Sudanese civil-society group, state that the churches, belonging to the Sudan Internal Church, the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, were burned to the ground on 28 December and rebuilt, only to be attacked again on 16 January.

It is reported that the police have taken no action.

On 21 January, Sudan’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Nasr al-Din Mufreh, disputed the reports, arguing that only one church had been affected by arson, and that the police had arrested one person who was released due to insufficient evidence. The government statement said that this church would be rebuilt.

In December, the US State Department removed Sudan from the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list: states that have “allowed or conducted severe, ongoing, egregious, systematic violations of religious freedom”. Sudan is ranked seventh in Open Doors’ 2020 World Watch List of countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.