Sudan peace under threat, say churches
NAIROBI, June 18, 2004 (The Nation) — Sudanese churches yesterday condemned the humanitarian crisis in Darfur [western Sudan] and expressed fear that it might frustrate the recently signed peace agreement.
They called on the international community to intervene and save lives and property in that western part of the war-torn country.
The Sudanese Ecumenical Forum vowed to play a more proactive role to ensure the month-old peace agreement was implemented to the letter. Forum Chairman Kevin Dowling announced that the churches would closely monitor the transitional provisions.
They would conduct civic education of the masses in and outside the country. Bishop Dowling supported the peace agreement signed in Nairobi last month and vowed his organization would not allow it to fail as happened in 1972 [actually 1972 is the year when a peace pact was signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to end Sudan’s first civil war. The accord collapsed in 1983 leading to the current war.].
It was signed in the presence of President Kibaki at State House, Nairobi, by Sudanese Vice-President Ali Osman Taha and by Dr John Garang, chairman of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army/Movement. Said the Bishop: “The church will not sit back just because a peace agreement has been signed. We will be more proactive by engaging in monitoring and civic education.”
He was addressing the press at the All Africa Conference of Churches’ Nairobi headquarters a day after closing a one-week General Assembly of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum. The assembly resolved to commit itself to popularizing and supporting the peace agreement. It urged all parties to strive to implement the final agreement fully.
They demanded that the agreement be all-inclusive and transparent to ensure its ownership by all the Sudanese people, both north and south. The bishops included Archbishop Joseph Marona of the Episcopal Church of Sudan; the Rev Peter Makuac, moderator of Presbyterian Church of Sudan; the general overseer of the Sudanese Pentecostal Church; the chairman of the Sudan Council of Churches, the Rev John Tong Puk; and Bishop Parride Taban, who represented Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops Conference.
There was also the Rev John Okumu, regional coordinator of the South Sudan Africa Inland Church; Mr Andrea Kena, chairman of Sudan Interior Church, and Fr Mark Kumbonyaki, chairman of the New Sudan Council of Churches.