National Symbols “must be respected”: Catholic Bishop in South Sudan on Country’s Flag

“The symbol of the national flag goes together side by side with the anthem, these are all symbols that need to be respected by the life we live,” Bishop Lodiong said during the September 1 interview.

The South Sudanese Catholic Bishop who spoke to ACI Africa on the sidelines of the unveiling of the logo for the yearlong Eucharistic Congress and Golden Jubilee celebration of “Sudan and South Sudan hierarchy” underscored the need to control “the release and printing” of national symbols, which he said “must have (an) official outlet” and that “not everybody does it”.

An August 25 Eye Radio report indicates that “the blue color in the triangular shape of the national flag where the yellow star is embedded has been the center of debate. A deep-blue color has occasionally been wrongly printed instead of the correct light blue.”

In his August 25 memo, the Managing Director of the Media Authority of South Sudan instructed all levels of government and public institutions to “remove any incorrect or substandard versions of the flag and replace them with the correct official version.”

The flag of South Sudan was adopted following the 9 January 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) that marked the end of two decades of civil conflict.

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Kerbino Kuel Deng is a South Sudanese journalist who is passionate about Church communication. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.