Hope rises for South Sudan deal

SOUTH SUDAN President Salva Kiir and former Vice President Riek Machar have signed an agreement to end the civil war in South Sudan.

On 9 May 2014 a cease fire agreement was signed in Addis Ababa to end the tribal conflict that has left thousands dead and driven almost a half million people from their homes.

The Primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan the Most Rev Daniel Deng Bul, accompanied by his Roman Catholic counterpart Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro, and the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan, the Rt Rev Peter Gai Lual Marrow, joined the talks brokered by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development and the US and British governments.

Mark Simmonds, British foreign minister for Africa, welcomed the accord as “long overdue” but added it was “essential that both sides ensure its immediate implementation and take full responsibility for the forces under their control. Only with continued engagement and the genuine commitment of both sides will South Sudan be able to pull back from catastrophe,” he said.

“This conflict has caused innumerable deaths, forced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes, and brought the country to the brink of famine.”

While on a visit to Juba last week the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, stated: “Churches in South Sudan have a significant role in national dialogue, affirming unity and a sense of nation-building by strengthening a process of reconciliation.”