Bishop urges govt to ameliorate southern Sudanese conditions
June 30, 2006 (WAU) — A church leader in Western Bahr al Ghazal state said nothing has changed in the lives of ordinary southern Sudanese even after the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) over a year ago.
Speaking to Sudan Radio Service (SRS) in Wau last week, the Bishop of Wau Diocese, Rudolph Deng Majak, said the people of southern Sudan are yet to see the fruits of the CPA.
The cleric urged the government of southern Sudan to quickly implement the CPA so that the people of southern Sudan can raise their standards of living after decades of civil war.
However Bishop Deng said that- with the peace agreement- people in southern Sudan now enjoy freedom to express their opinions and aspirations without fear.
Bishop Rudolph Deng said, “What I have seen in people’s lives is that people now own their own future. People are still poor. People are still in need of a lot of help. But of course for the first time in more than 21 years people can move, they can express themselves, they can say what they like and they say it with conviction, without looking over their shoulders.
He added, “That sense that at last you can talk your mind without worry of being locked up or something worst happens to you; that sense of freedom is there.”
The Bishop of Wau also decried the slow progress of development in the region, blaming it on non governmental organisations that do not carry out their programmes as expected.
(ST/SRS)