Sudan: Priest who remained with his people despite violence killed in Nuba Mountains

Fr. Youhanna Al-Amin died in Kauda, a region of Sudan marked by tribal tensions and disputes among armed groups. According to local sources, the killing appears to have been an act of retaliation after he reported the theft of medicines intended for the local population.

The Catholic Church in Sudan is mourning the death of Fr. Youhanna Al-Amin, parish priest of St. Vincent’s Parish in Kauda, who was killed on Friday, June 19, together with a parish watchman and another person in the Nuba Mountains, a region that has suffered the consequences of war and instability for decades.

According to information received by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) from local sources, the priest was killed amid growing tribal tensions and internal disputes among armed factions operating in the area. The same sources indicate that the priest’s death appears to have been an act of retaliation after Fr. Youhanna reported the theft of medicines that the Church was safeguarding for the benefit of the local population.

Kauda is the main center of the areas of the Nuba Mountains controlled by the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N). In recent months, the deteriorating security situation, together with armed and tribal conflicts, had forced the evacuation of some religious personnel from the region. Fr. Youhanna, however, chose to remain with the community he served, becoming one of the few priests still carrying out his ministry in this region very much affected by violence.

Those who knew him say that he did not abandon his people when circumstances became increasingly difficult. His role extended beyond spiritual care. As is often the case in remote and impoverished regions where ACN supports projects, the Church served as a vital source of healthcare assistance and support for the most vulnerable.

News of his death has caused deep shock throughout the Diocese of El Obeid. For nearly three decades, Fr. Youhanna accompanied generations of faithful, becoming a much-loved figure both within and beyond the Catholic community. In a message of condolence received by ACN, St. Peter’s Parish in Babnusa recalled that the priest served there from 1997 to 2021. He first arrived as a seminarian, later became a deacon, then a priest, and finally parish priest of the community.

“He was a friend of the youth and the children, and he loved his work until the very end,” the parish said in its tribute.

In an email to ACNUSA, Dr. Tom Catena, medical director of Mother of Mercy Hospital in Gidel, about six miles from the Kauda parish compound where the shooting occurred.

“There’s been very severe intertribal fighting for the past six weeks but not clear who the perpetrators are,” Dr. Catena said Saturday. “We had a Mass for him this morning and are now waiting for his body to be brought here to Gidel.”

Catena, a US native who has been working in the Nuba Mountains for years, asked for prayers for the people of the area, who, he said, are experiencing “pretty dark times these days.”

The death of Fr. Youhanna adds to a series of violent incidents that have affected the Church in Sudan in recent years. In June 2025, Fr. Luka Jomo, a priest of the Diocese of El Obeid, was killed by a stray bullet during an attack on the city of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur State. Months earlier, Bishop Yunan Tombe was brutally beaten by armed men while travelling back to his diocese, suffering serious injuries.

As the local Church calls for the full circumstances of Fr. Youhanna’s death to be clarified, ACN joins the Diocese of El Obeid in praying for the eternal rest of Fr Youhanna Al-Amin and the two other victims of the attack.

–Maria Lozano and John Burger