wfn.org | LWI 2010-003 LWF Calls for Urgent International Support to Sudan's Peace Process

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LWF Calls for Urgent International Support to Sudan's Peace
Process
Donors Urged to Increase Emergency Funding amid Deteriorating
Humanitarian Situation

GENEVA, 11 January 2010 (LWI) - The Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) is calling for urgent action from the international
community in supporting the effective implementation of Sudan’s
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, and in
preventing recurrence of conflict in the country.

In a statement released today coinciding with the CPA's fifth
anniversary on 9 January, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael
Noko pointed out that the people of South Sudan were yet to see
any "peace dividend in terms of improved security or development,
and their confidence in the peace process has been badly
undermined." 

The CPA, signed between the Government of the Republic of Sudan
and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement / Sudan People's
Liberation Army granted a six-year interim period of
administrative autonomy to South Sudan, which would be followed
by a referendum in January 2011 to decide whether South Sudan
should become an independent country.

Noko expressed the LWF’s grave concern about the deteriorating
situation in South Sudan in view of rising violence, chronic
poverty, political tensions, and the growing risks of renewed
conflict.

He noted the rising insecurity increasingly impedes access by
the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) program in South Sudan
to remote communities. DWS work is focused on the peaceful
reintegration of returnees including the rehabilitation of
infrastructure and promoting agricultural self-sufficiency. 

"Donors must in the meantime address the terrible - and
deteriorating - humanitarian situation in South Sudan through a
significant increase in emergency funding, and increased support
for local religious entities and NGOs which have the best
capacity to reach South Sudan’s most remote and vulnerable
communities," the general secretary stated.

He affirmed the LWF's support for recommendations of a January
2010 report by ten non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working
in South Sudan, which particularly emphasizes the international
community's crucial role in supporting the southern Sudanese
government capacity to provide internal security and protect
civilians. 

Noko reiterated the LWF's commitment for continued collaboration
with local churches and other partners in the framework of the
Sudan Ecumenical Forum to strengthen the peace process in the
country and improve the lives and prospects of all the people of
Sudan.

LWF/DWS initial work in Sudan began in the mid-1970s with
emergency relief response to famine in Juba and Malakal.
Compelled to withdraw its operations in 1986 for security
reasons, the LWF resumed emergency response to food insecurity
again in 1997. The current DWS country program based in the
southern town of Torit was re-established in 2007. (431 words)

The full text of the LWF statement is available on the LWF Web
site at:
http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF_Statement_South-Sudan-1_2010.pdf

More information about DWS work in Sudan is available at:
http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-Sudan.html

>*      *      *

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the
Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF
currently has 140 member churches in 79 countries all over the
world, with a total membership of 68.9 million. The LWF acts on
behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as
ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian
assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects
of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in
Geneva, Switzerland.)

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