wfn.org | [ENS] Daybook Sept 7 2004

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

September 7, 2004 - Tuesday: To Note

* Pennsylvania diocese reaches out to Sudan

* Sudanese Church Leaders' statement on current situation in Sudan


Pennsylvania diocese reaches out to Sudan

[ENS] When Bishop Paul Marshall of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, asked 67 
Episcopal congregations in late July to "act now to prevent people in Kajo 
Keji [Sudan] from starving to death," no one could have hoped for a more 
generous response.

The first installment of money was wired from Diocesan House in Bethlehem 
to its companion diocese of Kajo Keji by early August, and just a few weeks 
later trucks filled with food began making the trip from Kampala, Uganda. 
As of September 2, the Diocese of Bethlehem had transferred $53,722 to the 
Diocese of Kajo Keji, according to Canon Bill Lewellis, diocesan 
communication minister.

Kajo Keji County is in the southernmost part of Sudan, bordering northern 
Uganda. Ravaged by war for many years, tens of thousands of people of Kajo 
Keji had taken refuge in camps across the border. Over the past few months, 
many have been driven out of the camps by violence and have returned to 
Kajo Keji where the inhabitants had already been confronting a food crisis.

The region that includes Kajo Keji County is a diocese of the Episcopal 
Church of Sudan. The Diocese of Kajo Keji and the Diocese of Bethlehem 
formed a companion relationship in 2001.


Generosity and Compassion

In a pastoral letter read to all congregations in the Diocese of Bethlehem 
during the first weekend in September, Bishop Marshall described the 
response as one of "generosity and compassion," adding that "some of the 
stories of individual and parish response will stay with me forever." [The 
full text of Bishop Marshall's pastoral letter can be found online at: 
www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_50162_ENG_HTM.htm]

An email update from the Kajo Keji Emergency Response Committee included 
the following:

"Thanks to our true friend and partner, Diocese of Bethlehem ... What they 
have done will enter the history books of Kajo Keji. They have wiped our 
tears and tapped our backs. Their actions have given our people hope that 
they are not alone. They have made us see the light at the end of the 
tunnel ... We are very thankful for their commitment.

The committee also offered thanks to the team on the ground led by the 
Bishop of Kajo Keji, the Rt. Rev. Manasseh Dawidi Binyi. "They are working 
very hard in giving moral support and in assessing the neediest," the 
committee said. "They facilitate the purchasing, distribution of food, and 
coordinating the smooth running of the effort."

Episcopal Relief and Development [www.er-d.org], a ministry of the 
Episcopal Church that provides emergency assistance in times of disaster, 
also sent $10,000 to Kajo Keji, Lewellis said, and may soon be able to send 
an additional $10,000.

"Churches throughout the Diocese of Bethlehem have developed traditions of 
remarkable generosity -- giving beyond expectation beyond their walls to 
people in need, locally and globally," Lewellis said. "The Cathedral Church 
of the Nativity, Bethlehem, has for the past six years offered the example 
of giving away all the offerings received at Easter and Christmas. Not a 
percentage of the offering; the entire offering. Their Christmas 2003 
offering of more than $9,000 was given equally to New Bethany Ministries in 
South Bethlehem and Episcopal Relief and Development for worldwide needs. 
Also, in 2001, Trinity Episcopal Church, Mt. Pocono, sent $10,000 to Kajo 
Keji for famine relief."

"The most pressing request has been for money that can be used to purchase 
food in Kampala, Uganda, or northern Uganda to be trucked into Kajo Keji on 
an emergency basis," said Connie Fegley of Reading, chair of the diocesan 
World Mission Committee.

Representatives of the Diocese of Bethlehem have visited the people of Kajo 
Keji twice over the past few years. In 2000, Connie Fegley and her husband, 
Dr. Randall Fegley, were among those who visited refugee-settlement camps 
in northern Uganda for uprooted Christians from southern Sudan.

Randall Fegley, who teaches about Sudan and Africa at the Berks Campus of 
Penn State University, joined three others on a 2002 trip to visit Sudanese 
refugees in Uganda and to study and assess educational and agricultural 
systems in Kajo Keji itself to determine what the Diocese of Bethlehem 
might offer, and to offer spiritual and pastoral comfort to beleaguered 
brothers and sisters there.

In 2001, Marshall joined members of the diocesan World Mission Committee on 
an advocacy trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with key senators and 
representatives and members of the State Department to make the case for 
alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people.

Marshall has said he'd like to see people from his diocese go to developing 
countries to be involved in various kinds of ministry. "I hope we will 
continue to consider how we might serve Christ's neediest people," he said. 
"Our deeper attachment to brothers and sisters in the developing world can 
only mean good things."

Contributions can be made by sending a check to the Diocese of Bethlehem, 
333 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Make the check payable to 
"Diocese of Bethlehem" and designate it for "Kajo Keji food."

                               - - - - -

Sudanese Church Leaders' statement on the current situation in Sudan

[Anglican Communion News Service] We, the Sudanese church leaders of the 
Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) met at the SCC Headquarters in Khartoum on 
August 30, 2004 to reflect on the current political situation in the 
country, in particular the issue of war and peace. We met at the time by 
which a full peace accord was due to have been signed by the Government of 
Sudan (GoS) and the SPLM/A, and when the UN Representative was to report to 
the UN Security Council on the situation in Darfur. We shared and discussed 
information that seems to indicate that the road to a just and 
comprehensive peace in the Sudan is still long.

We are deeply concerned that the progress in the Sudan IGAD Peace Process 
is slowing down. The parties to the IGAD peace process have been out of 
session since the last adjournment in July and despite the shuttle 
diplomacy being carried out by the IGAD Secretariat, the parties are no 
longer experiencing the sustained pressure from the international 
community, in particular the IGAD Partners, due to the new and equally 
devastating conflict that emerged in Western Sudan, the Darfur region early 
last year.

While the Sudanese people have been and are still earnestly waiting for the 
completion of the IGAD peace process, the situation on the ground is 
discouraging. The Government of Sudan seems to be preparing for war as 
indicated in the Upper Nile region. Early this year, the government 
militias in Upper Nile, assisted by the Sudanese regular forces attacked 
and burned down over 22 Shilluk villages. This resulted in killings, loss 
of property and the displacement of about 26,000 civilians to Malakal town.

Last month, in Western Upper Nile, the same militias attacked the SPLA, and 
during the combat the area was also devastated. Further, other activities 
such as the digging of trenches in towns like Juba and the instigation of 
the southern militias by the GoS to claim inclusion in the ongoing IGAD 
peace process as an independent force, show clearly that there is lack of 
commitment by the GoS to the IGAD peace process which has already dealt 
with the most contentious issues between the Sudanese warring parties.

In Darfur the GoS is involved in a brutal war that knows no ethics and 
international regulations of war. Although humanitarian access to the needy 
in the region has improved, the situation on the ground leaves a lot to be 
desired. The government intransigence has led to the continued insecurity. 
Government backed militias known as Janjaweed are still operational. The 
influx of civilians to the displaced camps continues. The number of the 
displaced has recently risen to over one million and is expected to rise in 
the period ahead unless the Janjaweed, who are still posing a security 
threat to the civilian population, are contained and the hostilities by 
both sides brought to end.

The Sudanese Church leaders therefore call upon the international community 
to exert sustained pressure on the Sudanese warring parties, and in 
particular the GoS to commit itself to the ongoing peace initiatives in 
Naivasha (Kenya) and Abuja (Nigeria) that aim at ending the armed conflicts 
in the Sudan peacefully as soon as possible so that the Sudanese people 
live a dignified life. The Naivasha Protocols have raised the hope of the 
Sudanese people and provided a unique opportunity for the achievement of 
peace. We call upon the Sudanese people and the international community to 
ensure that this opportunity is not lost. We further call for intensified 
efforts to restore security and bring humanitarian assistance to the people 
in urgent need in both Darfur and Upper Nile region.

Signed:

The Rt. Rev. Daniel Deng Bul
Bishop of Renk
The Episcopal Church of Sudan

The Rev. James Par Tap
Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church

The Rev. Fermo Ogilla Utong
Sudan Pentecostal Church

The Rev. Mahgoub Kago Artloke
Sudanese Church of Christ

The Rev. Daniel Oballa Okony
Presbyterian Church of Sudan

Fr. Antonious Fakious
Coptic Orthodox Church Omdurman

The Rev. Samuel G El Sadik
Ethiopian Orthodox Church

The Rev. James Lagos Alexander
Africa Inland Church

The Rev. John El Sir
Sudan Interior Church

The Rev. John Tong Puk
SCC Chairman

The Rev. Paul Chol Deng
SCC General Secretary