Evangelist Graham says all Sudanese want peace, pledges help to achieve it
By MOHAMED OSMAN Associated Press Writer
KHARTOUM, Sudan, Dec 09, 2003 (AP) — Evangelist Franklin Graham, once a fierce critic of Sudan’s government, pledged his help Tuesday in rebuilding the country devastated by civil war and said his meetings with government officials convinced him that all Sudanese want peace.
“In the past I have been very critical of this government and its policies,” Graham told a news conference. “But I have been watching very closely the peace process and … I believe that the government is serious about peace.”
Graham has been active in charity work helping the Christians of southern Sudan who have been at war with the Muslim-dominated government, and he has both condemned the government and made disparaging remarks about Islam.
He said he had hesitations to accept a government invitation to come to Khartoum – it’s his first trip to the capital – but decided it was the best thing to do.
“After praying and asking God’s help … I thought that it was important to accept the invitation,” he said. “It is important that all of us work for peace. As a Christians, my faith is different from you as Muslims, but it does not mean that we cannot live in peace together.”
Graham said, however, that a peace treaty expected to be developed soon from negotiations in Kenya between Sudan and the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Party must not remain just “a piece of paper,” but must be fully implemented. He said he believed that’s what all Sudanese want.
“I really believe that for the first time in 50 years, all of the Sudan is ready for peace,” Graham said, referring not just to the civil war that started in 1983 but to off-and-on wars dating almost to the country’s independence in 1956.
“When the peace treaty is signed, which I believe would be very soon., I will be an advocate for all of the Sudan to have peace,” Graham said, urging that the country must have freedom of politics, the press and “of course, religious freedom.”
“I want to help Sudan and we will continue to help Sudan,” he said. “When I go back to my country, I want to encourage others to help the Sudan. I pray that God will bless this great nation and that he will bring healing to this land.”
He said after 30 years of involvement in Africa and 15 years in the Sudan, he was in love with this nation. “I fell in love with the Sudanese people,” he said. “I believe God has put it in my heart.”
Graham met on Monday with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, and he told reporters “I like your president very much,” praising both el-Bashir’s spirit and his humor.
“He is a man who has sense of humor. He said that he wanted to convert me to Islam,” the well-known Christian evangelist said.
“I told him that I wanted to come back to Sudan that I wanted to preach in Sudan and I told him that I want to convert him. I think that this may be a challenge for me” he added.
Graham brought with him 65,000 Christmas presents for Christians and he said the presents – which he referred to as 65,000 prayers – would be distributed both in northern Sudan and the country’s south.