للجميع سؤال كبير و خطير ... عن طائفة الاقباط بمدينة شندى ... !!!

QUOTE]Dear Sir,
Many thanks for giving me the chance to comment on this Coptic issue knowing that I am not a member of sudaneseonline.

First let me say that the Coptics in Sudan enjoy very good relations with their Muslim countrymen. Coptics in Sudan had their contribution to their country through the many
coptic doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc..... Unfortunately they failed to document those contribution and now they went missing as not so many people recently notice their efforts.

For example if you look at the history of El Marik you will notice that two of the founders of El Masalma Club which later became Nadi El Marikh were copts.

There are also Henry Riad a dignified High court Judge, a writer who had numerous books that he wrote or translated.

The contribution of the copts to the political life was more active during the years before and after independence, and their role in the political life subsided after almost all political parties in Sudan became Islamic one way or another with made it difficult for them to be affiliated to any of them.

Things became even worth after 1989 when the Islamic front took over and they made it clear on their first few years that Sudan is now a Muslim state and their is no place for others. This made many of the coptics to flee the country looking for safe heavens somewhere else but few remained in Sudan.

I think the government didn't succeed in getting all of them out of Sudan because they were very blended in the fabric of Sudan and mostly because the Sudanese as a people didn't embrace this culture of making Sudan a leaving hell for the copts as they wished.

As things have changed from the prospective of the government and to make them look better in the eyes of the world they reverted back and now are trying to set a good relation with the coptic community. This is only happening at the top levels and not at the people level as I know that most of the Coptics are not approving this government.

The closer relation between the government and the church leaders should only be understood in the sense of that if you don't accept it we are turning your life into a nightmare, and this is exactly what makes the church leaders try and swim in the direction of the government even if they really don't like it.

I will stop for now as I need to go, hoping to clarify a little the relation between the state and the coptics in Sudan.

Cheers Ihab