Head of the Church of England to visit Sudan
Feb 25, 2006 (LONDON) — The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, is to visit Sudan today and will mark the start of Lent – a season of fasting and penitence for the Church – by visiting UN World Food Programme locations on the White Nile.
According to the official site of the head of the Church of England, the Archbishop has been invited by the Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, Revd Dr Joseph Marona.
During the course of the visit, Dr Williams will meet with the Government of National Unity in Sudan as well as Muslim and Christian faith leaders in both Khartoum and Southern Sudan.
He will spend Ash Wednesday – a day of fasting – by taking part in barge and school distribution projects in Malakal.
The Archbishop’s official programme will begin in Khartoum on Sunday February 25th and he will return to the UK the following Sunday.
As well as church services and other official meetings and events in Khartoum and Juba, Dr Williams will visit a Displaced People’s Settlement in Khartoum, consecrate a new cathedral in Renk Diocese — about 300 miles south of Khartoum — and will visit a rural school under a tree in an area recently attacked by a well armed militia group claiming to be the Lords Resistance Army.
Dr Williams said, “The Episcopal Church in the Sudan remains one of the key civil society organisations capable of delivering reconciliation and sustained development in the region. I am proud to be visiting them at this crucial time in their country’s history and I look forward to supporting the work of the World Food Programme in Sudan. I am anxious to see governments, UN agencies and faith based organisations working together to strengthen all that makes for peace in a land that has known far too much of war.”
(ST)