By Elise Winland
Published December 9, 2025

              Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., is spotlighting Sudan’s deepening civil war and the mounting atrocities against civilians ahead of a new congressional hearing on the conflict.

              Smith, a Catholic who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, will lead his 17th congressional hearing on Sudan Dec. 11. He said the scale of mass violence since the Sudanese Civil War began in 2023 demands urgent action from U.S. officials and the international community.

              “Since 2023, as many as 18,000 civilian deaths have been committed in Sudan — with estimates as high as 150,000 — and more than 10 million people have been displaced as a direct result of the Sudanese Civil War,” Smith said in a statement. “The catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Sudan — which includes the systemic killings, rapes, abductions, detentions, and child soldier recruitments of innocent civilians — demands our attention.”

              As CatholicVote previously reported, the war erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) over a stalled plan to integrate the RSF into the national army.

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              The upcoming hearing will review the current status of the war, the widespread crimes attributed to the Sudanese government and armed groups, and the deepening humanitarian emergency facing civilians. 

              The first panel will feature Deputy Assistant Secretary Vincent D. Spera of the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs. A second panel will include Samaritan’s Purse Vice President Ken Isaacs, Family Research Council President and U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Vice Chair Tony Perkins, and Human Rights Watch Deputy Washington Director Nicole Widdersheim.

              Church leaders have also raised alarms over the conflict. In two appeals last month — during his Nov. 2 Angelus address and again in a Nov. 16 social media post — Pope Leo XIV urged prayer for victims of violence in Sudan and highlighted the persecution of Christians there. 

              Sudan ranks fifth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most dangerous countries for Christians. Roughly 2 million Christians currently live in the country.


This article was published on December 9, 2025 and can be found online at: https://catholicvote.org/rep-chris-smith-calls-attention-to-bloodshed-in-sudan/