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Situation Report Update
South Sudan
November 2006
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Give now!
DR000043 |
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Greetings from the staff at RECONCILE. The past few months have found our staff scattered from Europe to the United States to many corners of Sudan as we shared the stories of the impact of RECONCILE’s work, encouraged international advocacy efforts, met with those who are supporting our work with their finances and prayers and carried out training events on the ground in Sudan. |
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In July in Akobo, 1,300 weapons were voluntarily surrendered. |
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Impact of Akobo Workshop
Many have heard about the voluntary disarmament which took place in July in Akobo, Upper Nile, in which 1,300 arms were surrendered. But what is not widely known is the “story behind the story” which is that this disarmament was a direct result of RECONCILE’s work with the church and community leaders of Akobo. RECONCILE lead a workshop on civic education and trauma healing in this community in October of 2005. One of the resolutions which the workshop participants presented to the local government officials was to support the government in disarming. However, after a wave of inter-ethnic violence which left 17 dead (including two Presbyterian health workers) the church and community leaders who had attended the RECONCILE workshop called a meeting to see what they could do to address the crisis and decided that they must be proactive. They conceived and mobilized a grass roots program to voluntarily disarm the people of Akobo. The Rev. John Both, pastor in charge of the Presbyterian Church of Sudan congregation in Akobo, said, “We got the idea for this plan from the workshop which RECONCILE did for us.” Both said that the workshop participants designed the plan, which was then shared with the local chiefs and headmen and presented to the local commissioner, who gave it strong support. |
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Braving the flood waters to reach the workshop. |
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Abwong Conflict Resolution, Democracy, Good Governance & Human Rights Training - September
Director Emmanuel Lo Willa and Milcah Lalam braved flood waters to reach workshop participants, many of whom had walked two days in similar conditions, in Abwong, Upper Nile. This is an area with high inter-ethnic tensions and seven militias are present within the state. Material on conflict resolution, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, democracy and human rights was presented. |
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Concerns — such as the fact that South Kordofan and South Blue Nile had not been given the right to self-determination, the prevalence of militias, and non-payment of government teachers and nurses — were discussed, with plans made to present them to the appropriate officials for action. |
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RECONCILE Staff Retreat/Planning
RECONCILE staff, including 2 new Sudanese team members, held a retreat and planning meeting in October in Yei. We have begun moving our office to our new headquarters/training centre located there.
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Yei Youth on the Move
SORRY — Sudan Organization for Restoring Relationships among Youth — was inspired to start a team for trauma awareness, healing and reconciliation after members attended the trauma awareness workshop held by RECONCILE in March 2006.
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Youth are taking what they learned to others.
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They have presented drama and music skits in all the churches within Yei, recorded trauma awareness and healing programs with ACROSS, presented on Liberty FM radio, and are writing a radio soap script with assistance from Aktion Afrika Help-International (AAH-I).
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Director Attends Civil Society Conference
Director Emmanuel Lo Willa represented RECONCILE at the African-Danish Civil Society Conference held in Copenhagen in May. He was able to bring his expertise and experience into discussions on good governance, particularly
in the area of seeking African solutions to problems such as the formation of a democratically elected, stable government in Somali land.
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Yambio & Maridi Workshops — September
Two psychosocial rehabilitation and trauma awareness workshops were held in Yambio and Maridi to follow up the Zande/Dinka Peace Conference. A Maridi participant who lost her property in the inter-ethnic clashes confessed that she attempted to kill her husband, who was not able to provide for her, by cutting his head with a large knife. She was moved by the sessions on reconciliation to forgive her husband whom she brought to the workshop (his wound was still visible). They told the workshop participants that they had reconciled and were willing to live together in peace – a testimony to the trauma healing process! |
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Braaksmas Visit U.S. Partners
The Sudanese Presbyterian Fellowship in Portland, Maine, was among 39 churches and seven partner organizations which the Braaksmas visited from July through September as they interpreted RECONCILE’s work and the need for advocacy on Sudan. These members of the Sudanese Diaspora were very excited to hear of RECONICLE’s work in peace-building. |
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is supporting the work of RECONCILE in South Sudan. A video on this work was included a part of the PDA Annual Report 2005. |
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This update and photos were provided by Debbie Braaksma, PC(USA) Mission Coworker, RECONCILE, and were extracted from The RECONCILE Reporter, a newsletter of the Resource Centre for Civil Leadership.
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Sudan response index |
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