Sudan: The plight of Eritrean Christians: Is the Rashaida tribe joining radical Muslim groups?

The plight of Eritrean Christians continues. In addition to the 86 Christians abducted by the Islamic State militants in Libya, fourteen Christians were allegedly kidnapped by gunmen in Sudan. According to BosNewsLife (14 June 2105), "On June 4, unknown gunmen, suspected to be from the Sudanese Rashaida tribe, were seen opening fire on a convoy of between 49 and 70‚ Eritrean refugees en route from Wadi Sharifey near Kassala to Shagarab refugee camp, kidnapping 14 Christians." Ashagrie, persecution analyst for WWR, analyzes: "If the report is true that the Rashaida tribe gunmen were behind the kidnapping of the 14 Eritrean Christians, it will be another worrying situation for Christians in the region, especially Christians in Eritrea. This is so because the Rashaida tribe has a strong presence in Western Eritrea and Northeast Sudan - a region that has been serving as an outlet for Christians trying to escape persecution in the hands of the Eritrean government. As such, if the Rashaidas, most of whom are Sunni Muslims, joined other, radical Muslim groups, the danger that Christians face in the region would become much more complicated than before. Previously the Rashaidas were implicated by the UNCHR report regarding their involvement in trafficking of Eritrean refugees in cooperation with other criminals in the Sinai Peninsula."