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> Appeal from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan

Posted On : September 4, 2009 12:50 PM | Posted By : Webmaster
ACNS: http://www.aco.org/acns/news.cfm/2009/9/4/ACNS4650
Related Categories: Sudan

Regarding the recent atrocities in Jonglei and Western Equatoria States

On Saturday 29th August 2009 I received reports from Wernyol, Twic East
County, Jonglei State, that there had been another attack on the peoples
of the area in which over forty people - men, women and children - were
killed. Amongst the dead were Ven. Joseph Mabior Garang, Archdeacon of
Wernyol and Archbishop's Commissary in the new Diocese of Twic East, who
was shot at the altar of the church in Wernyol during a service of
Morning Prayer. Tens of others have been wounded, some very seriously
with gun-shot wounds and broken limbs. Only a few of these have been
taken to Juba Military Hospital, whilst the rest are still in Bor
Hospital.

I have leant from Episcopal Church sources on the ground that the
attackers were well armed with new automatic weapons, dressed in army
uniforms, and appeared well-organized and properly trained. Instead of
attacking a cattle camp, this was an attack on a Payam headquarter town.
Consequently in the view of the Church, this was not a tribal conflict
as commonly reported, but a deliberately organized attack on civilians
by those that are against the peace in Southern Sudan. These reports
confirm the suspicions that I aired in my May 2009 appeal to the
diplomatic and international community in Sudan.

Last week I received the news from Ezo, Ezo County, Western Equatoria
State, that there had been another devastating attack by the Lord's
Resistance Army (LRA) on Ezo town on 12th/13th August in which three
people, including an Episcopal Church lay reader had been murdered. The
attack included the abduction of children from the Episcopal church
building in Ezo, and several thousand more people have been displaced
into Ezo town - people that the local churches are struggling to care
for. Ezo Hospital was also attacked, medicine stolen and equipment
destroyed.

I hear from Bishop John Zawo of the Episcopal Diocese of Ezo that the
attack could have been avoided if better military security had been
given to the town.

I am therefore appealing to the government and the international
community at large to act swiftly in order to prevent such atrocities
from occurring in future. Continuing violence such as this is not only a
crime against the innocent people killed and injured, it is a crime
against the peace of the Sudan and if left unchecked will do great
damage to the smooth implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA).

This is especially the case given the strained political situation
whereby the two parties to the CPA - the National Congress Party (NCP)
and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) - are still not coming
to an agreement regarding the laws governing the elections and
referendum. The time frame given for the elections and referendum is
already too short for the democratic processes to be effectively
organized, and by the provisional dates chosen for voting in the
elections, much of the South will already be suffering from logistics
problems caused by the onset of the wet season.

This is an indication to the citizens of the Sudan that the people on
the ground are not being regarded or included in the politics of peace
and that we are vulnerable to future violations of the CPA and an
uncertain future for peace in the Sudan.

I refer the government and international community to my May 2009 appeal
to the diplomatic community in Sudan, and now strongly reiterate my plea
to urge your countries' governments to do more to guarantee the
implementation of the CPA at all levels. As shown from the Twic East
example, there is now accurate evidence to suggest that such violence is
deliberately perpetrated as I implied in the May appeal. So long as all
violence such as that in Jonglei and that perpetrated by the LRA
continues - violence which is preventable by better use of security
personnel - there is no hope of conducting free and fair elections in
these areas in 2010 and no hope of a fair referendum on Southern
secession in 2011.

In the mean time I am appealing for humanitarian assistance to those
24,000 displaced and wounded people in Twic East County and those 15,000
displaced and wounded people Ezo County. I would like to especially
appeal for help for the widow and children of Ven. Joseph Mabior Garang,
who now require food and education.

Unless the guarantor governments of the CPA act now the peace is in
grave danger. As the Church, we look for the upholding of the rights of
every Sudanese to a peaceful future.

His Grace the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul Yak
Archbishop and Primate of the Province of the Episcopal Church of the
Sudan

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