Avoid return to war Mozambique Church leader tells Sudan

By Manyang Mayom

November 7, 2010 (KHARTOUM) – A Church official from Mozambique has urged both the Sudanese people to try to avoid a return to war by all means saying that war does not help anyone.

Fr. Martin Maulano is a diocesan priest the southeast African country urged Sudan to hold a peaceful and on schedule referendum on southern independence in January, speaking in Rumbek, the capital of Lakes state as part of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ plenary.

Fr. Maulano who serves on the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) as the second Deputy Secretary General cited the example of his own country, Mozambique, which experienced 25 years of war, saying “war is not enjoyable”.

He encouraged the Sudanese people to exercise their freedom at the forthcoming referendum in the hope that it will bring about peace and co-existence as Sudanese people to struggle to keep what he described as the country’s African identity.

South Sudan is predominantly Christian with others following traditional African beliefs. Identity and religion were two of the south’s grievances during the conflict which began the same year as Islamic Sharia law was introduced in 1983. Since 1989 the southern rebels fought against the pro-Arab Islamist National Congress Party with whom it signed a peace deal in 2005.

Fr. Maulano further encouraged the Sudanese people to foster communion among themselves regardless of the results of the referendum, advocating for unity in diversity, described as “communion in multiplicity”.

The Sudanese people are preparing themselves for a referendum promised in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended the civil war between the South and the North, which resulted in the death of 2 million people according to the UN.

Since the peace deal the south has had its own secular government although Sharia Law still applies in the north.

A senior Catholic official said on Friday that its leaders will not tell the Southern Sudanese people which way to vote at the January 2011 referendum, except to insist on the paramount importance of the exercise.

Bishop Rudolf Deng Majak, the president of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference and the bishop of Wau Diocese told Rumbek Catholic Radio that it was not the business of Church leaders to influence Southern Sudanese people to vote for unity or separation.

The Bishop said that the Church leaders have the duty to tell the public the importance of the referendum.

Bishop Deng advised the Sudanese people to approach the referendum in a reflective manner as it is “a decision of a lifetime” that will affect future generations.

The Bishop who has just returned from a visit to the UK said that the Southern Sudanese abroad are in solidarity with their compatriots here in the country both morally and spiritually.

Not all Church leaders in southern Sudan have opted to sit on the fence. Bishop Paul Yugusuk of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, told the BBC earlier this year that his Church was “not willing” to let their congregation decide for themselves.

He said southerners should vote for independence as continued unity would mean they would be treated as second-class citizens. “The way to unity is destructive,” he said.

Southern Sudanese are expected to vote for separation in January’s vote.

(ST)