wfn.org | Archbishop Deng lobbies HM Government to help end LRA crisis

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Archbishop Deng lobbies HM Government to help end LRA crisis

Posted On : March 5, 2009 10:43 AM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/3/5/ACNS4585
Related Categories: Sudan

The Archbishop of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, the Most Rev'd Dr.
Daniel Deng Bul Yak, has this week sent a petition, on behalf of his
Church, the Church of Uganda and the Anglican Church in north eastern DR
Congo, to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In the letter, the Anglican Church leaders of the region affected since
Christmas by repeated attacks by the self-styled Lord's Resistance Army
(LRA) - Southern Sudan, northern Uganda and north eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) - appealed to the British Government for
assistance.

The request was specifically two-fold: firstly to put diplomatic
pressure on the LRA leaders, leaders in Sudan, Uganda and Congo, and
leaders of the UN peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Congo to do more to
bring an end to the brutal attacks on unarmed civilians by the LRA,
which have seen many Congolese and Sudanese towns swamped with refugees
and displaced people since December. Secondly, the prelates pleaded for
more international assistance for the relief effort in supporting these
displaced people - most of whom are now dependent on their and other
churches.

The letter was signed by Archbishop Deng, Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi,
leader of the Church of Uganda and Bishop George Ande of Aru in north
east DRC. It follows closely on the heels of a similar statement made by
all the Primates of the Anglican Communion at Alexandria following the
Primates Meeting there in the first week of February 2009, itself
following repeated reports from Anglican bishops of the affected region
of the brutality, frequency and disruption of the LRA's attacks, which
have included torture of women and children; child abductions;
executions by machete amputation, mutilation and decapitation; burnings
in churches during services and in houses, and other unspeakable crimes.

These have resulted in new internal and cross-border displacement
throughout the region, affecting more than 50,000 people. Whole
communities have been attacked in the Sudanese dioceses of Ezo, Yambio,
Ibba, Maridi, Mundri and Lui in Western Equatoria, Southern Sudan. Over
10,000 people have been displaced from their villages in Maridi alone.
Communities in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo including
Faradje, Durba, Aba and Sambia have also been seriously affected with
over 50,000 displaced, many as refugees over the Sudanese and Ugandan
borders, in particular to the above-mentioned centres.

Archbishop Deng commented that though LRA attacks were the most pressing
security issue in Southern Sudan at present, other issues of local
violence within Sudan are still ongoing and must be tackled within the
strategic framework of the Sudanese Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)
between the North and the South, which has been strained of late with
the destruction of Abyei in 2008 and worries over the indictment of
President Omar Al-Bashir and the upcoming elections in 2009.

The Sudanese Primate challenged the FCO and DfID to assist in finding a
"whole Sudan" solution to the country's current conflicts -
complementing diplomatic pressure on Khartoum with a development
programme designed to demonstrate maximum "peace dividend" to the
peoples of Southern Sudan.

Only when these two approaches are put together will the LRA and other
crises be overcome - this is the message of the Primates and this latest
petition in particular. Archbishop Deng returned to the Sudan on
Saturday 28th February following a week in the UK during which he
attended a two-day workshop on the work of the Church in Sudanese
development and spent three days in the Diocese of Salisbury, the
Episcopal Church of the Sudan's longest standing overseas partner.

> Related News Entries

Statement of concern from the Primates of the Anglican Communion on the
situation in Sudan (February 5, 2009)
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/2/5/ACNS4576

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