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There is need for the international community to put pressure on the military in Sudan to show respect and value for human life, a Catholic Bishop in the country has said a day after the country’s army seized power in a coup.
Members of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) have, in a collective statement, expressed their spiritual closeness with Msgr. Christian Carlassare, the Bishop-elect for South Sudan’s Rumbek Diocese who is nursing gunshot injuries after he was shot in both legs in the early hours of Monday, April 26.
A Catholic Cleric has underscored the need for collective efforts and action to end tribalism in South Sudan saying the vice is the reason behind poverty and underdevelopment.
Catholic Bishops in Sudan have embarked on plans to revive their development and humanitarian arm, Caritas Sudan, which has been dormant for the last nine years.
In an effort to realize operational efficiency and provide clarity in Church administration, Bishops and heads of Dioceses in Sudan and South Sudan have reorganized the structures of their common forum and assigned personnel to oversee the various departments of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC).
Operating under a single Catholic Bishops’ Conference has so far been smooth for Prelates in South Sudan and Sudan even after the former seceded, the Archbishop of Sudan’s Khartoum Archdiocese has told ACI Africa.
The agreement to separate religion from the state after three decades of Islamic rule in Sudan is a matter that is still under discussion, according to a Catholic Prelate in the North-East African country.
Refugees from South Sudan who have gone to neighboring Sudan in search of better living conditions are being mistreated instead and are being denied wages when they go to work in farms while some are poisoned in their camps, a Catholic Bishop in the host country has told ACI Africa.
The decision by Sudan’s transitional government to separate religion from state after three decades of Islamic rule in Sudan marks a new era of faith in the country, a Church official told ACI Africa in an interview.
The leadership of Sudan Relief Fund (SRF), a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing food, safe drinking water, clothing, shelter, medical attention and hope to the people of Sudan and South Sudan, is carrying out an evaluation on projects being implemented in the two countries.
Plans are underway for the installation of the new Archbishop of South Sudan’s Archdiocese of Juba, Stephen Ameyu, with the Vatican and the Bishops in Sudan and South Sudan expressing full support of the event scheduled to take place on Sunday, March 22.
Several days after letters expressing rejection of a Papal transfer of a Bishop in South Sudan emerged, the heads of dioceses in Sudan and South Sudan constituting the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) have thrown their weight behind the Holy Father and his representatives in the world’s youngest nation and expressed regrets “with great humility the inappropriate language used” in two defamatory letters.
When the Bishops and heads of dioceses in Sudan and South Sudan met for their weeklong Annual Plenary Assembly in Juba that concluded October 30, they not only deliberated about the situation of their sister countries and delivered a message of hope but also elected new leaders for their umbrella body, the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC).
With the citizens of the youngest nation of the world, South Sudan, seemingly torn between apprehension and optimism against the backdrop of reports that the vice-president designate, Dr. Riek Machar wants the long-awaited November 12 date for the Transitional Government postponed yet again by another six months, the Catholic Bishops have delivered a message of hope and called on the citizens to “keep heads high.”
Just over two months since Sudan’s new transitional government took office, there is, on one hand, positive change with regard to the ability of citizens to express their views without fear of intimidation and torture, and on the other hand, a degree of stagnation with economic hardships still being felt across the Northeast African country, a Church leader has told ACI Africa.