- ICRD President Douglas Johnston converses with then First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Proto-Priest Filotheos Farg of the Coptic Church about the Center's peacemaking initiative between the North and South of Sudan -

In 2005, a peace agreement was signed which brought to a close the 21 year civil war between the North and the South of Sudan that cost more than two million lives and another four million people their homes. In addition to working behind the scenes to help bring this about, ICRD undertook two complementary institutional initiatives designed to ensure that once peace was achieved, it would be lasting in nature (unlike the earlier peace of 1972 that ended Sudan's first civil war and later broke down).

Thanks to extraordinary indigenous leadership, the performance of both bodies, the Sudan Inter-religious Council (SIRC) and the Committee to Protect Religious Freedom (which functions under the Council's auspices), has exceeded all expectations. It is significant that these two independent bodies were formed in a totalitarian context. Not only did the Islamic regime permit the establishment of this independent body that has as part of its mandate holding the government accountable for its religious policies, but it also agreed to give serious consideration to the Council's recommendations.

Notwithstanding the intra-Muslim conflict in Darfur, the government has honored the above commitment, to the tune of more than $500,000 in the form of land and funds to permit the building of new churches and to provide restitution for the past seizure of church properties (see accomplishments). With the financial backing of the U.S. Institute of Peace, the SIRC has been mobilizing Muslim and Christian religious leaders on a regional basis to work together in bringing peace to Darfur and in solidifying it in other parts of the country, including the South.