Malakal, 28 August, 2022 / 9:21 pm (ACI Africa).
Religious leaders in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State have “strongly” condemned the ongoing clashes between armed factions in Tonga town and neighboring areas in Panyikang County, a territory covered by the Catholic Diocese of Malakal.
In their Wednesday, August 24 collective statement, the faith leaders describe the ongoing tribal clashes as an “unnecessary war” and call on members of the warring parties to “a ceasefire” as stipulated in the September 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
“We, the conferees in Fashoda Ecumenical Conference in Kodok town strongly condemn and reject the on-going unnecessary war in Tonga, and call upon the warring parties to a ceasefire in conformity with the revitalized agreement,” they say.
The religious leaders who include the Local Ordinary of Malakal Diocese, Bishop Stephen Nyodho Ador Majwok, call on the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the African Union (AU), the United Nations (UN), and the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway – known as the Troika “to exert pressure on the government and opposition groups to bring peace and stability in the country.”
They further appeal for mobilization of resources to “implement developmental projects including agricultural activities in the area.”
