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April 2, 2008

Sudan church leaders warn of threats to peace accord

by Fredrick Nzwili
Ecumenical News International

JUBA, South Sudan — Church leaders in Sudan say they fear that renewed fighting could break out in the south of Africa’s largest country if a 2005 peace accord that ended a two-decade-long civil war is not properly implemented.

“We will be talking of another war,” said Bishop Rudolph Deng Majak, chairperson of the Sudan (Roman) Catholic Bishops’ Conference. Deng was speaking on March 31 in the South Sudan capital of Juba at the start of a three-day meeting of Sudan church leaders and an international team of church representatives visiting Sudan.

A Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed on Jan. 9, 2005 ended one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest conflicts, which pitted the mainly Christian and animist southern Sudan against the predominantly Muslim north. The agreement gave South Sudan a six-year period of administrative autonomy, after which a referendum will be held to decide about secession.

Deng cited recent clashes in the oil-rich Abyei region, which lies on the border between the South and North, as signaling the danger of a renewed conflict.

At the same time, many parts of South Sudan still lack health facilities, schools and clean water, and lack of such services is inhibiting the return of refugees from the neighboring states of Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.

The international church delegation led by the Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, had been visiting different regions of Sudan, including the country’s western Darfur province, scene of a separate conflict that has led to the deaths of an estimated 200,000 people and driven 2.5 million from their homes.

During the visit, the delegation heard the general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches, the Rev. Peter Tibi, warn of the dangers facing Sudan.

“With the ongoing armed conflict and humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur and other parts of the country, newly emerging armed conflicts, particularly in Abyei, and the danger of a derailing CPA implementation, the just Peace and Reconciliation, we ever have been praying and working for, yet has to become a reality,” Tibi said.

Kobia echoed the concern of the Sudanese church leaders. “Too many agreements have been dishonored. We don’t want to see another failure,” he said, while also assuring Sudanese Christians of support from churches worldwide. “Just as we were with you during the struggle for peace and freedom, we also want to be with you at this time.”