Day: February 4, 2023

Pope Francis sought Saturday to console the long-suffering people of South Sudan as he opened his first full day in a country beset by conflict, poverty and humanitarian crises by encouraging priests and nuns to serve their flocks by joining in their tears.

After arriving in the world’s newest country on the first-ever papal visit Friday, Francis was spending Saturday ministering first to church personnel and then to South Sudanese who have been forced by fighting, flooding and other crises to leave their homes.

Francis was highlighting in particular the plight of South Sudanese women, half of whom are married before age 18, are subject to rampant sexual violence and then face the world’s highest maternal mortality rate.

“Let us ask ourselves what it means for us to be ministers of God in a land scarred by war, hatred, violence, and poverty,” Francis said in St. Theresa Cathedral in the capital, Juba. “How can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a river bathed in so much innocent blood, among the tear-stained faces of the people entrusted to us?”

Lush in oil and other natural resources but beset by years of civil war and conflict, South Sudan is one of the world’s poorest countries and is responsible for Africa’s worst refugee crisis: More than 2 million people have fled the country and another 2 million are displaced within its borders.

Joined by Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Presbyterian head of the Church of Scotland, Francis is seeking to draw global attention to the country’s plight.

The aim of the novel ecumenical visit is to encourage South Sudan’s political leaders to implement a 2018 peace accord ending a civil war that erupted after the overwhelmingly Christian country gained independence from mostly Muslim Sudan in 2011.

The deal and many of its key provisions, including the formation of a national unified army, has stalled amid political infighting and continued clashes around the country that have forced the postponement of the first presidential election for another two years.

At the cathedral Saturday, Francis urged South Sudan’s bishops, priests, nuns and seminarians not to join religious life for social prestige, but to serve their flocks by accompanying them.

“It is precisely this art of stepping into the middle of our brothers and sisters that the church’s pastors need to cultivate: the ability to step into the middle of their sufferings and tears, into the middle of their hunger for God and their thirst for love,” he said.

On a day when South Sudan’s suffering women are expected to take the pride of place, Francis heard of the horrific sacrifices some nuns have made. Sisters Mary Daniel Abut and Regina Roba Luate of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart Sisters were killed in a 2021 ambush along with two others.

“Thank you, on behalf of the entire Church, for your dedication, your courage, your sacrifices and your patience,” Francis said.

Women and girls in South Sudan live a “hellish existence,” the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan said in a report last year based on several years of interviews.

“South Sudanese women are physically assaulted while being raped at gunpoint, typically held down by men while being abused by others. They are told not to resist in the slightest way, and not to report what happened, or they will be killed,” the report said.

“It’s hard to convey the level of trauma of South Sudanese women whose bodies are literally the war zone,” commission chair Yasmin Sooka said late last year.

In his arrival speech Friday, Francis raised the plight of women and called for them to be protected and promoted.

Among those on hand for his visit to the cathedral on Saturday was Sister Regina Achan, who said Francis’ visit would encourage other sisters to keep serving.

“We stand with them because we are their voices, we don’t run away at difficult times,” said Achan.

Francis’ visit, she added, would awaken “serenity and peace in our hearts that we may work for peace and justice in this country.”

Francis issued a blunt warning on Friday to President Salva Kiir and his onetime rival and now deputy Riek Machar that history will judge them harshly if they continue to drag their feet on implementing the peace accord.

Kiir for his part committed the government to return to peace talks — suspended last year — with groups that didn’t sign onto the 2018 accord. And late Friday, the Catholic president granted presidential pardons to 71 inmates at Juba’s central prison in honor of the ecumenical pilgrimage, including 36 on death row.

Francis has changed Catholic Church teaching to hold that capital punishment is inadmissible in all circumstances.

Source: Voice of America

Pope Francis called on Catholic clergy Saturday, especially those in Africa, to raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power by authorities. Francis was speaking to church leaders on his second day in Juba, South Sudan, where he is on a three-day ecumenical peace pilgrimage.

Pope Francis said Saturday the church should play a significant role in ending violence and bad governance in Africa by speaking out about injustices committed by those in power.

The pope said, if we want to be pastors who intercede, we cannot afford to remain neutral before the pain caused by acts of injustice and violence. To violate any right against any woman or man is an offense against Christ.

The pope was addressing Catholic bishops, priests, and nuns at Juba’s St. Therese Cathedral, where he also cautioned against remaining neutral to injustice.

He said we are called to intercede for our people, to raise our voices. We cannot afford to remain neutral.

Using a metaphor, the pope equated the Nile River, which passes through Juba from Lake Victoria, the world’s largest freshwater lake, to the Mediterranean Sea, as the tears of the people of South Sudan immersed in endless suffering.

The pontiff asked, how can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a river bathed in so much innocent blood, among the tear-stained faces of the people entrusted to us?

He challenged the clergy to be “courageous and generous souls, ready to suffer and die for Africa.

He told said we need courageous, generous souls ready to die for Africa,”

On Friday, Pope Francis urged South Sudanese leaders to shun violence and embrace peace and he also called on the international community to refrain from interfering in the affairs of a sovereign Africa.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is accompanying the ecumenical pilgrimage.

“My heart breaks. I can hardly speak with sorrow for South Sudan. I beg that at every level, from the president to the smallest child, that people find the mercy of God and are transformed. And that there is peace and good government,” Welby said. “That they will not steal money. That no one kills their neighbors for cattle.”

Rebecca Nyandeng, wife of South Sudan founding father the late John Garang, told citizens to shun ethnic divisions.

She said, I am heartbroken that Dr. John died for the independence of this country, yet the very people he died for are now killing themselves. By the fact that you are still killing yourselves, it means he had died in vain. Please accept one another, stop division and stop killing each other. God has come to us in the form of the visit of Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury and Moderator General of the Church of Scotland.

The three religious leaders later, participated in a joint interdenominational prayer session.

This historic ecumenical visit by the prominent religious leaders is considered a sign of inter-religious unity and their commitment to bear witness to the Gospel, as well as an action to promote peace and reconciliation among the people of South Sudan.

Source: Voice of America

Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Head of the Sovereign Council denied, on Saturday, that the army was planning to overturn the framework agreement, which provides to restore a civilian government.

The military leader, on Friday, February 3, stated in the White Nile State that the army would not implement the framework agreement with one side but wanted all the Sudanese political forces to be included.

The political forces signatory of the framework agreement did not react to his statements.

Only, his deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo “Hemetti” issued a statement renewing his “full and unequivocal commitment” to the deal. Also, he welcomed the conclusion of the peace review conference by the signatory groups.

Al-Burhan in a speech Saturday, at a second mass wedding held in another area of the White Nile State, said that some were frightened by his previous statements.

“His Excellency addressed the political forces and those he described as (panicked in Khartoum) saying that the armed forces are not against anyone. The army has signed the framework agreement on the condition that it does not exclude others, and that the discussions on the issues agreed upon include all political forces except the (banned) National Congress Party,” read a statement issued by the Sovereign Council.

In line with the framework agreement of December 5, the signatories have to organise conferences and workshops on five sticky issues: peace review, security reforms, eastern Sudan crisis, dismantlement of the former regime and justice.

Two signatories of the Juba peace agreement refused to take part in the process despite efforts by al-Burhan to bridge the gaps between the signatories and the non-signatories who want to include their allies in the Democratic Bloc.

Al-Burhan stressed that three years of rivalry in Khartoum have passed in vain without achieving the tasks of the transition.

He further called on all parties not to proceed with the political process without the other forces as it was the case in other countries that had similar experiences, warning that exclusion will not build a state.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mesganu Arega and Sudanese Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Defalla Elhaj Ali discussed on Friday bilateral relations and regional issues of mutual concern.

In the discussion, Ambassador Mesganu Arega commended the longstanding people-to-people relations that exist between Ethiopia and Sudan.

He said that the recent visit of Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, to the Republic of Sudan aimed to show solidarity and empathy for the people and Government of Sudan since the two countries shared history, values, a common destiny, and a desire for peace and development.

Ambassador Mesganu told the Sudanese Ambassador that the Ethiopian Government understands Khartoum’s concerns regarding its suspension by the African Union, and in this regard, the Ethiopian Government will follow all mechanisms and tools in place for the continental body to reinstate Sudan’s membership in the Union.

Ali is in Addis Ababa for talks with the members of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union to lift the suspension of Sudan’s membership in the regional bloc, which was decided after the coup d’état of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan in October 20121.

Ambassador Mesganu highlighted that the Ethiopian Government is committed and ready to resume the bilateral engagement in the ministerial joint commission, working together to strengthen IGAD, the border joint commission, cooperation in GERD, peace and security, and fighting illegal trade and organized crime along the shared border.

On his part, Ambassador Defalla Elhaj Ali appreciated the visit of Prime Minister Abiy to Khartoum and his discussions with all political groups regarding the political framework agreement. He also said that the Sudanese people in general were pleased with the solidarity shown and the stands taken by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed regarding Sudan’s political crisis.

Finally, Ambassador Mesganu added that, in the Ethiopian government’s view, the existence of differences between the two governments could only be resolved through dialogue, discussion, and negotiation and that no other means should be pursued to find an amicable solution.

Source: Sudan Tribune

A South Sudanese civil society activist has “strongly” condemned the killing of more than 20 people in Kajo-Keji county of Central Equatoria county.

The incident, blamed on cattle herders from Bor, occurred on the eve of Pope Francis’s visit to the capital, Juba.

Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) described the incident as “inhuman”.

“The perpetrators [of the attack] should be held accountable and government intervention is urgently required. It is unfortunate armed violence takes place in the face of political leaders with less intervention,” he explained.

Yakani, an award-winning human rights activist, said the selective approach to resolving deadly communal violence is fueling conflict in parts of the country.

“Civilian-to-civilian armed violence at the sub-national level is undermining the constitutional role of the national government and increasing citizens’ mistrust and lack of confidence in the national government,” he stressed.

The activist called on the United Nations Human Rights Commission for South Sudan to investigate the killings and ensure those who carried out the deadly attack are brought to justice.

Source: Sudan Tribune

The Sovereignty Council and the security apparatus bear the main responsibility for the deterioration of the security situation in Darfur, says Minni Minawi, Governor of Darfur. “We ourselves have made arrangements to address the impact of armed conflicts on the border with the Central African Republic and Chad.”

In an interview with Radio Dabanga on Wednesday, Governor Minawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement-MM faction that signed the Juba Peace Agreement (JPA) in October 2020, lamented the delayed implementation of the agreement.

“This is not only caused by the current confusing political situation, but by a certain kind of politics we have been witnessing since Sudan became independent. It is always difficult for politicians to set priorities. We arrived more than three years ago, and now we are quarrelling with the military. Well, this is Sudan.”

As for the deteriorating security situation in Darfur, he said that the Sovereignty Council and the security apparatus bear the main responsibility.

“If the Sovereignty Council wants to stop the problems, they should accelerate the approval of the Regional Authority Law. “I told the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that the Darfur Regional Government is shackled by the delay in the approval of this law by the Sovereignty Council, and therefore they bear a moral and political responsibility for the continuing insecurity.”

He also lays the blame for the rampant insecurity in Darfur on the former transitional government and the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC). “After the fall of the Al Bashir regime, our vision was to address all the root causes for the Sudanese problem, but unfortunately haste and power struggles delayed the implementation of the JPA,” he said. “We formed a transitional government without taking the dismantling of the various militias and shadow brigades in the country into account.”

The Darfur governor further confirmed that the continuing skirmishes at the border with CAR and Chad have a large impact on the region. “Any problem that occurs in the neighbouring countries, affects the region. The Darfur government itself has put arrangements in place and our people are working as volunteers in the border areas to address the expected shocks. We have also established a High Native Administration Council, for the first time in Darfur, to help reduce the effects as well.”

‘Old mentality’

Asked about the relation with the Forces for FFC-Central Council that is leading the negotiations with the military junta, Minawi accused the alliance of monopolising power “to form a new, stunted government”.

“The so-called Framework Agreement should be improved and made more comprehensive, but the FFC-CC “is scrambling forward with the same old political mentality aimed at monopolising power. We entirely reject this mentality we fought against for 20 years, and we are still combating it until we have adopted a mindset of accepting the other in equality, justice, and their Sudanese identity regardless of their culture and the language they speak at home. These are the values we strive to achieve.”

The Sudan Liberation Movement-MM is against any review of the JPA, as agreed on in the Framework Agreement, and refused to attend the conference on the peace agreement held in Khartoum this week.

“We signed the JPA with the aim to implement all its protocols, not to review and amend it. The signatories of the Framework Agreement do not have the right to interfere. Secondly, FFC-CC wants to form the upcoming transitional government in order to control it and the Constitutional Court, the judiciary, and the governors of the states, without involving others. For these reasons, we did not accept their invitations to sign the Framework Agreement.”

The SLM-MM is a founding member of the FFC-Democratic Block, formed in November last year, which includes the National Accord Forces (NAF) coalition of rebel movements, the mainstream Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and the Beja Nazirs Council faction under the leadership of Sayed Tirik.

The new alliance has been accused of backing the military junta.

“This is nonsense,” Minawi commented. “It is the FFC-CC that is now working together with the junta. On April 12, 2019, we refused to involve the military, and they insisted on including them. We called for reforming the security and military institutions, and they have refused this so far. We must sit down to conduct a Sudanese-Sudanese dialogue, reach consensus with each other, in order to reform all military and civilian institutions, as also has been stipulated in the JPA. We hope to reach a solution together.”

The FFC-CC said in December last year that it refuses to “flood the political process” with parties “that are not interested in democracy”, such as the FFC-DB.

Justice

Omar Al Bashir and other officials indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague must definitely be extradited, Minawi said.

“This is a national responsibility. If it was the responsibility of the Darfur Regional Government, we would have handed them to the ICC already. Now, they are still in Kober Prison in Khartoum North, and we are pressing the Sudanese authorities and cooperating with the ICC to get them transferred to The Hague.”

Source: Radio Dabanga