ICC Note
South Sudan’s Church leaders have issued a report that they say is a roadmap to peace in the war torn country. They are trying to end the country’s 4 year long civil war that has killed many and left the country devastated. They have long been a unifying force as they stand for all Protestants, Catholics, Evangelicals, Pentecostals and Orthodox. The conflict is divided along tribal and ethnic lines and has been since the beginning. The church believes that it will be able to help because their congregations span these lines.
2017-12-24 South Sudan (ECUMENICALNEWS) The people of South Sudan are experiencing the most difficult time in their history of suffering and self-destruction, says the South Sudan Council of Churches, reaching out with an Advent and Christmas message of hope.
The SSCC has striven to be a unifier in the conflict-ridden country and issued an Advent and Christmas “message of hope” on Dec. 18, also releasing a paper titled “Peaceful Resolution to the Conflicts in South Sudan – The war must stop!”
In their season’s message the churches said, “Advent begins with the invitation to joy, because ‘the Lord comes’, because he comes to save us. The words of the Prophet Isaiah addressed the people of Israel in their exile in Babylon after the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
“The Israelites were uncertain about their return to the Holy City which remained in ruins. The Prophet Isaiah encourages them that the Lord is coming, and he will bring light, he will dispel darkness and restore light with his presence.
“He urges them to abandon sorrow and despair, lift up their hearts because the Lord is at hand.”
The SSCC has worked unstintingly since 2014 crisscrossing the land to try to bring about peace in their country, the world’s newest, that is being torn apart by civil conflict.
After a meeting they held in the Zambian capital Lusaka in August the SSCC said, “Death, displacement, hunger and impoverishment have brought our people to their knees, and they are deeply tired of this unbearable situation.”
The United States, the biggest aid provider to South Sudan, is tiring of its support and at the United Nations Security Council on No. 28 it threatened to take unspecified measures against the government unless it moves to end the nearly four-year war and stop harassing UN peacekeepers and aid workers.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley called on President Salva Kiir to take action, telling the Security Council that “words are no longer sufficient,” AFP news agency reported.
The following day the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Alain Noudéhou, strongly condemned the attack that took place the day before in Duk Payuel village, Duk County, which resulted in at least 45 people killed, including six people working with two NGOs. Reports indicated that another 19 people were injured, including three aid workers.
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