Sudan
Republic of South Sudan
On July 9, South Sudan became an independent nation. Please keep the people of Sudan and the newly established governments in your prayers.
Sudan has been plagued by internal conflict for nearly 40 years. A variety of complex factors, including race, ethnicity, religion and economic disparities fueled a 22-year conflict between the north and south and are also largely at the heart of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur that began in 2003.
On January 9, 2005, the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) to end the decades-long civil war between the north and south. The CPA ushered in a six-year interim period of political power sharing between the north and south with specific terms regarding troop deployments, oil revenue sharing, a national census and 2009 elections.
The CPA culminates in 2011 when the south had the opportunity to vote for independence from the rest of Sudan. South Sudan did vote to become an independent nation, which occurred on July 9, 2011.
The signing of the CPA – the most significant step toward peace between northern and southern forces in Sudan in decades -- was overshadowed by the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the western region of Sudan. Tensions between the regions ethnic groups and the central government peaked in 2003 when two local rebel groups attacked a government outpost. Since that time, government-backed militias, known as the Janjaweed, have been systematically committing mass atrocities in Darfur. The U.S. Government has asserted that the Sudanese Government is committing genocide against the people in Darfur. Estimates of innocent civilians killed range from 200,000 to more than 450,000. With more than half of Darfur’s seven million people either internally or externally displaced and exclusively dependent on external aid for shelter, food and water, the conflict in Darfur represents the worst humanitarian crisis in the world today.
Recent News
On Monday, June 27, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, gave a statement on the Adoption of Security Council Resolution 1990. Click here to read that statement.In early June, we received very disturbing reports from Sudan regarding alarming hostilities there. Extensive and heavy military movement was witnessed in the town of Kadugli on June 5. Since then, insecurity has escalated at frightening speed in the areas of the Nuba Mountains. The crisis in Southern Kordofan, Sudan is rapidly deteriorating and showing clear signs of a major humanitarian catastrophe in the making. A conflict between Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and Nuba-SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) opposition forces has resulted in targeted violence and killings of civilians in Kadugli, the major city of southern Kordofan. The United Nations estimates up to 40,000 people have fled fighting between Sudanese government troops and members of the former southern rebel group, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, in Kadugli, the capital of Sudan's oil-producing state of South Kordofan.
Humanitarian efforts in and around Kadugli are severely hampered by the fighting and the presence of large number of SAF troops. Compounds of several aid agencies are reported to have been looted and expatriate staff have relocated to the UNMIS camp while national staff exist in the same insecure environment as do other civilians left in Kadugli.
Reports of violence have also been seen in the town of Abyei. "The Security Council expresses grave concern about the ongoing violence and rapidly deteriorating situation in Abyei since the Council addressed the issue in its May 22 Press Statement, in which the Council condemned the attack by Southern forces against a United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) convoy escorting Sudanese Armed Forces elements of Joint Integrated Units on May 19 in Abyei, and also condemned the escalatory military operations being undertaken by the Sudanese Armed Forces, which have taken control of the area in and around Abyei town."
(UN Security Council Presidential Statement on Sudan, June 3, 2011)Click here to read the June 6 UN Mission in Sudan Press Statement.
Now we need your help. As the delegates of the Sudan Council of Churches said, "The suffering of these children of God as they try to find shelter, food and basic daily needs is our concern and should be for all people of conscience."
Advocate: Please contact Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Your message can be left at 212-415-4062 or you can send a message from http://archive.usun.state.gov/Issues/Contact2.html. Urge the U.S., in coordination with the United Nations, to act decisively to end the violence and ensure protection of and humanitarian assistance to the people of Southern Kordofan. You are also encouraged to contact Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of African Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. You can reach him by contacting the Main Switchboard at 202-647-4000. Ask that the state department continue to call on Sudanese leaders to resolve these issues peacefully and expeditiously, and to refrain from further actions that could cause increased violence and human suffering by destabilizing Southern Kordofan or Blue Nile.
Give: If you would like to learn more about the ELCA's response to this situation and contribute to the ELCA disaster appeal for the South Sudan, please
click here. Your gifts of
any amount will make a difference for the people of Sudan.
Pray: Prayers of peace are always welcomed and encouraged. For ideas of what to pray for check out
this link from the ELCA Worship page. On this page you will find "Readings and Prayers for Crisis Situations".