Archbishop of Canterbury declares Sudan new Anglican province

KHARTOUM - 30 July 2017: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby declared Sudan the 39th province of the worldwide Anglican Communion, six years after the predominantly Christian south gained independence from the north.

The Anglican church in Sudan, a majority Muslim country, has been administered from South Sudan since the 2011 split which followed a civil war that left more than two million people dead, the Daily News & Analysis reported on Sunday.

Today's ceremony in Khartoum added Sudan to the 85 million-strong worldwide Anglican communion's 38 member churches - known as provinces - and six other branches known as extra provincials.

Welby said that creating a 39th Anglican province with its own Khartoum-based archbishop was a "new beginning" for Christians in Sudan.

He installed Ezekiel Kondo Kumir Kuku as the country's first archbishop and primate at a ceremony in the capital's All Saints Cathedral attended by American, European and African diplomats and hundreds of worshipers.

"We welcome the new primate with jubilation," Welby announced to a cheering crowd as he handed a cross to Kuku.

Welby, spiritual head of the Church of England and of the global Anglican Communion, said it was a rare opportunity for an archbishop to declare a new primate.

"It is a responsibility for Christians to make this province work, and for those outside (Sudan) to support, to pray and to love this province," he said.

"The church must learn to be sustainable financially, to develop the skills of its people, and to bless this country as the Christians here already do".