Catholic Bishops’ Conference Secretariat in South Sudan Looted in Nighttime Robbery

He said in reference to the nighttime robbers, “They broke into five offices. In my office, they carried the laptop, the external hard disk, some flash disk memories and some money.”

“They turned things up and down and left the office in a bad shape,” Fr. Suleiman said, and added, “The most destroyed and looted were the finance department and Director of Caritas office because two shelves were destroyed.”

Credit: ACI Africa

While those involved in the robbery are yet to be identified, the Sudanese Catholic Priest said, “These people seem to be with us because nobody will have such experience of locating the places.”

He condemned the robbery, saying, “It’s really very bad for the Catholic Church because faithless people are coming in to destroy the institution of the Church.”

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“Someone without faith doesn't know that what we are doing is for the universal Church,” the SCBC Secretary General said during the May 25 press conference in Juba. 

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He added, “I’m the Secretary General of Sudan and South Sudan which means that they have spoiled the work and the image of the Secretariat because I am holding an official document in my computer.”

Fr. Suleiman expressed the fear that “the documents will be exposed and I have unfinished reports of the donors; how am I going to report again.”

“This is a challenge for me telling the donors that the laptop was stolen and I cannot report,” he said, adding, “We have reported the incident to the police and the investigators came and followed me to the hospital with the watchman.”

Credit: ACI Africa

“I hope that justice will prevail,” the SCBC official told journalists, and urged the relevant South Sudanese agencies and authorities to “look into the incident that targets the Church institutions because it makes people feel insecure and reluctant to write projects for the development of the country.”

“People need to be God fearing people because if you do such things, it will affect your faith,” the Sudanese Catholic Priest said during the May 25 press conference in Juba.

Patrick Juma Wani is a South Sudanese journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. Patrick holds a Diploma in Journalism and Mass Communication from Makerere Institute for Social Development (MISD) in Uganda. He has over 7 years of extensive experience in leading the development and implementation of media, advocacy, communication and multimedia strategy and operations, with an excellent track record of editorial leadership, budget management, and stakeholder outreach. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.