Sudanese cleric expresses optimism for peace after Bush’s re-election

NAIROBI, Nov 8, 2004 (Sudan Radio Service) — The archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan says prospects for peace in the Sudan are bright following the re-election of the US President George W Bush last week.

From (L-R) Bishop Emmanuel Ronin of Rwanda, Bishop Bernard Malango of Central African Republic and Bishop Joseph Marona of Sudan attend the opening ceremony of the first-ever All African Anglican bishops’ conference in Lagos, October 27, 2004.

Archbishop Joseph Marona, who returned from a conference of African Anglican bishops in Lagos, Nigeria, told Sudan Radio Service by telephone from Uganda that the US president is serious on the peace process in the Sudan.

The archbishop did not hide his happiness with the re-election of the US president.

Marona said “We were worried if George Bush did not come back to authority, we were going to lose hope. As long as Bush has come back my morale raised when I heard that he is through, so it is with any Sudanese who understands the struggle of Bush for the Sudanese people, for the peace so that there is stability in the country.”

Archbishop Marona says the relationship between the church and the state in the Sudan is not all that smooth but there is relative religious tolerance.

Material from the BBC Monitoring Service