Prayers and Assistance Urged for Sudan and South Sudan

The following statement was issued on 25 April 2012

The Archbishop of Cape Town, the Most Revd Dr Thabo Makgoba, has urged support for the Archbishop of Sudan’s appeal for peace, as tensions rise between Sudan and South Sudan. Encouraging prayer and material assistance from his church, he also calls for the international community, through the various channels open to it, to take steps to promote an immediate cessation of hostilities and encourage progress in establishing a just and lasting settlement.

Writing to the Bishops of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (ACSA), Dr Makgoba said,

‘Dear Brothers in Christ, I commend to your urgent prayers, and those of our whole church, the appeal from Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak, for peace, as tensions and violence mount between Sudan and South Sudan (see the Anglican Communion News Service release below). We pray for wisdom to prevail, so that full blown war may be averted, and a just and lasting settlement become more fully established between the two countries. We ask God to lead the two Presidents to continue pursuing peace, despite the challenges, and for the whole international community, including through such bodies as the African Union and United Nations, to take all appropriate steps to support and promote this process.

‘Let us also encourage giving what material support we are able to provide, towards those suffering as a result of this unrest and conflict. This can be given to Archbishop Daniel through the ACSA bank account.’

‘Yours in the Service of Christ

+Thabo Cape Town’

Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman on 021-763-1320 (office hours)


Banking Details:

Standard Bank;
Cape Town Branch No 020 009;
Account No 07 056 2423;
Account Name: ACSA - Provincial Trusts’ Board
Reference: Sudan

Anglican Communion News Service Release: Archbishop of Sudan appeals for peace as tensions rise between neighbouring countries

April 24, 2012 - ACNS: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/news.cfm/2012/4/24/ACNS5092

By Anglican Alliance staff

The Anglican archbishop who was instrumental in delivering peace to Sudan has raised the spectre of full-blown war and appealed for restraint from the presidents of Sudan and South Sudan.
Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul Yak, leader of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, urged the two presidents to pursue peace in spite of the difficulties following the major clashes threatening the fragile peace that churches helped to broker in 2005.
In a statement released Monday, he wrote that he was deeply concerned that the conflict between the two countries has escalated close to full blown war. The current civil war began in 1983 and is one of the longest running conflicts in the world, costing nearly two million lives.
After a long history of violence and war since independence, a second major conflict broke out in 1983 between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan.
Archbishop Daniel’s statement comes at a low moment in the peace process. The signatories of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the agreement which provided the path for the countries to separate last year, have lost momentum to follow through with their commitments.
Archbishop Daniel urged presidents Salva Kiir Mayardit and Omar Al Bashir not to lose the great amount of goodwill from their peoples shown during the process that led to the independence of South Sudan. He appealed to the people of both countries to refuse to be incited to return to war by their leaderships.
‘We should learn from the 55 years of war not to return to it so hastily. The blood of those who fought for peace should not have been poured in vain. We call on all sides to exercise restraint and pursue peace at all costs. God is on the side of those who seek peace.’
Unusually this week, as tensions both side of the border have reached a high, there have been attacks against Christian churches in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital. Christians and Muslims across the usually tolerant city have joined together in condemning the violence.