The director of legislative affairs for the Seventh-day Adventist world church has applauded the action of the United States Congress in passing the Sudan Peace Act.

In a recently released statement, James Standish says: “The Sudan Peace Act is the fruit of a concerted effort by a disparate coalition of faith groups who are working tirelessly to bring U.S. pressure to bear on the Khartoum government to stop brutal persecution of people of faith in that nation.”

Bush signed the Sudan Peace Act into law on October 21. In a statement released by the White House, he said, “The Act is designed to help address the evils inflicted on the people of Sudan by their government—including senseless suffering, use of emergency food relief as a weapon of war, and the practice of slavery.”

Over 2 million people have been killed and 4 million displaced since 1983, and there has been no significant movement for peace. There have been reports of more than 150 bombings of civilian targets, destroying lives, property, infrastructure, and disrupting humanitarian-relief activities.

The Adventist Church has actively worked to stop persecution in Sudan. The church’s annual World Report on religious freedom lists Sudan among the nations with the most severe restrictions on religious liberty. This past spring in Geneva, Jonathan Gallagher, United Nations liaison director for the Adventist Church, expressed the church’s concern to the U.N. Commission for Human Rights over the horrific violence against Christians and animists in the south of the country.

The Adventist Church’s South Sudan field, located in Uganda, has more than 4,000 members, while its Sudan field office, in Central Khartoum, has more than 5,000 members. In a population of more than 37 million, there are only 5 percent who are Christians.