South Sudan: Churches launch peace process

Archbishop Lukudu

The Southern Sudan Council of Churches has officially launched a peace process led by the churches. The launch of this peace initiative took place at the Juba Christian Centre on Saturday, August 8 in Juba. During an initial meeting held in Kigali, Rwanda, from 1 to 7 June 2015, leaders of the Southern Sudanese Churches decided to create a peace process led by the Southern Sudan Council of Churches with three main objectives: Advocacy, Neutral Forum and reconciliation.

The SSCC hopes to influence and change the attitudes of the population and government policies and other institutions towards peace and reconciliation in the country through advocacy.

One of the messages of the Church leaders was to stop the war in Southern Sudan immediately. The Archbishop of Juba, Most Rev Paulino Lukudu Loro, FSCJ, stressed what church leaders had said before: "This war has to end! The peace agreement has to be signed to defend life". According to Archbishop Paulino, "war has made people indifferent to human life, people are dying and nobody cares". He called on all people of faith to work together to bring peace in the country.

Meanwhile the warring parties came together in Ethiopia for another round of peace talks led by IGAD: Intergovernmental Authority on Development, hoping to find a peaceful solution for the conflict in southern Sudan.

Source: Fides