"Pray that God Would Hear the Cries of His People"

Editor's Note : Patheos is proud to publish the second part of Greg Metzger's interview with the Christian activist Ryan Boyette. In Part One , Ryan spoke of his personal connection to Sudan and explained the plight of the Nuba Mountain people of Sudan. In Part Two, below, Ryan explains how he and his Sudanese partners have utilized state-of-the-art technology and raw courage to raise awareness around the world about the atrocities being committed by the Sudanese government of President Bashir. What new methods have you and your colleagues been using to document the human rights crisis in the Nuba Mountains? I am the only American on a team of citizen journalists. The other thirteen members are native Sudanese. They go out to different locations that are or have been under attack. They bring back reports, interviews, photos and videos of events that have taken place from all over the state of Kordofan. From there I compile the information and send it out to different governments, media, and advocacy groups. I have also been working in collaboration with the Satellite Sentinel Program. I give them detailed information about what is happening on the ground and the Satellite Sentinel Program then uses that information to pin point where different events take place and use satellite imagery to show and provide further evidence to the events that are taking place in Southern Kordofan of Sudan. Ryan, some people are accusing you and your partners at Sentinel and elsewhere of spying on Sudan. How do you respond? Yes, some people are saying this is spying on Sudan. But in reality it is not spying. This work is not being done secretly for any government. The Sudanese Government would like this information to remain a secret because they would like to continue their campaign of terror on the people of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur. But these atrocities are not a secret to the millions of people who live in these states—and they're no longer a secret to the rest of the world. We are simply providing information to the world for the Sudanese people that are suffering great atrocities and oppression from their government. We openly provide the information to the public for every one in the world to see what the Government of Sudan is doing to its own people. We also show that, despite these atrocities that are taking place on a daily basis, there is very little response from the United States or the international community. What do you think the broader international community should be doing in response to the plight of the Nuba Mountain peoples? First, stop engaging Bashir as if he is a man a good character and would actually hold to any agreement that might be made. For the past nine years that I've lived in Sudan, I've constantly seen the deceptiveness of the Bashir regime. They sit down with United States and United Nations officials and through their tea-drinking political talk they convince them that they are a regime that actually will assist or are assisting their people. They're not. The Bashir regime is deceiving the US and the UN. From the time Bashir has taken power, he has destroyed his country and his own people up until today. Some may say that he and his regime help establish the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, but he only acted on the CPA because he was forced to do so, and even when he was establishing the CPA he was displacing and killing many of the people of Darfur. Bashir will only do what ever benefits him at any particular moment, without consideration for his people. Second, stop the Bombing. Mig Fighter Jets and Antonov Bombers are dropping bombs on the people of Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile every single day. SPLM-N Soldiers are not being targeted. Civilian populations are being targeted. This is proven by the number of causalities and wounded, civilians and soldiers. Many more civilians have been wounded and killed by these bombings than soldiers. The United States has the ability to make a threat, destroy several jets and planes on the ground, and establish a no-fly zone. The US has chosen to do nothing even though we have a moral obligation to act. Third, educate and equip the future leaders for Sudan. The people of Sudan are fed up with Bashir and his regime—and that regime will not last forever. The United States and the international community should equip future leaders for Sudan to assist them in the creation of a new, accountable government that benefits the people of Sudan. Fourth, support cross-border humanitarian assistance. The Sudan government will not allow food and aid to get to the people who have been displaced from their homes. In my estimation, famine conditions will hit southern Kordofan in about six weeks. Currently there is no sufficient food getting to the people that need it. If the Bashir regime actually allowed food aid to enter the state from Khartoum, then the government would use the food as a weapon of war as they did during the last war. During the last war, the Sudan government controlled relief aid that entered southern Kordofan and established "Peace Camps." The Peace Camps were where most of the atrocities and war crimes took place. If food aid came from the north, then the aid would be controlled by the very government that is attacking the people the aid is supposed to help. Many are concerned for your safety in light of the publicity of your visit to the United States. Why did you choose to come back for this short visit to the United States? Isn't this publicity going to make it hard for you when you return to Sudan? It was a very hard decision for me to come back to the United States for these past three weeks, in large part because my wife was not able to get her visa and travel to the U.S. with me. I also realized that if I came back and publicly spoke out against what is happening in Sudan, the Sudanese government would target me. What finally clinched my decision to do this U.S. trip was an interview I saw of a man who had walked 7 days with more than 150 people from their burned-out homes to the refugee camp in South Sudan. I heard the distress in his voice and his great concern for the children around him as he described what the Sudanese Army did to his village. He explained how the army had burned their houses, abducted people from the village. Everyone ran to the bush and now they have no home, no clothes, no food, nothing. I really wept as I heard this man's cry for help, because I knew that hardly anyone knows about this war and fewer are helping these people. I was angered that the Sudanese government was literally getting away with murder. So after long prayer and discussions with my wife, we decided that I needed to come to the U.S. to raise awareness and try to push some action. Yes, it will be extremely dangerous for me to go back to Sudan. I know that I am a target. I know that the government of Sudan is angry. I know that President Omar Bashir is angry. But no one has entered his house and abducted his wife or kids. No one has ever burned his house down with all of his possessions, leaving him to wander in the wilderness with no clothes or food. No Mig fighter jet or Antonov bomber has ever dropped bombs near him and his family. And he is angry? Who is he to be angry? He does all of these things to the poor of his own country. He's supposed to be their leader and a servant of the people, finding any way to assist these people that live in houses constructed of grass and mud. Yet everyday he conducts these atrocities against the people of southern Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur. Americans will be tempted to see this as a war on Christians by Muslims. What are the relations between Christians and Muslims in the Nuba Mountain region? Is this a religious war? The people of Nuba are very unique in that they respect everyone's freedom of religion. Nuba is about 70 percent Muslim and 30 percent Christian but their faiths do not divide them politically. Even though someone in Nuba may be Muslim and not agree with Christianity, they still respect the Christians. And the Christians, while they don't agree with many Islamic doctrines, respect the freedom for a person to decide for himself or herself. The SPLM-N Nuba force that is battling the Sudan Armed forces is made up of many Muslims and Christians that are fighting for their freedom—the freedom to be Christian or Muslim, the freedom to be Nuba or Arab or Fung or Fur and not to be forced into a religion or into a culture that is not their own. They are fighting to be represented in their government. They are fighting for a government that is accountable to its people no matter their race, religion, ethnicity or political affiliation. And finally they're fighting for their survival. Having said that, I think the National Congress Party that is currently controlling the country and the Government's Armed forces do try to use religion to persuade people to fight for them against the Nuba people—but when they do that, they are not telling the truth. Muslims and Christians both are suffering at the hands of this aggression, and the real reasons for the aggression are political and economic. I also believe that the government uses race, ethnicity, tribalism or political affiliation in addition to religion to try and divide the population, and to justify pushing different populations to places where the government wants them to go. You have told me about the rich Christian heritage of your wife's family. What do you think your father-in-law would say to his fellow Christians here in America about the situation he is facing? My father-in-law is a wise man and a strong Christian who always considers Christ. I respect him greatly. I've personally seen and heard him waking up at 3:00 AM every morning, praying for the people of America, Afghanistan, Iraq and many other countries. I am sure that he would ask the Christians in America to pray for their family in Sudan. Pray that God would hear the cries of His people in Sudan. Pray that Sudan will find peace by God's plan. He would say: This is God's plan. We embrace it with faith in Him, and He will receive the glory in the end.