“A cry from a wounded land”: Catholic Bishop in South Sudan Calls for End to Protracted Violence in Moving Letter

Since June 2021, Tambura has reportedly been beset by ethnically driven violence, primarily between the Azande and Balanda communities who live in the county. Tensions relate to political representation, traditional authority roles, and land access.

Local reports indicate that political elites from the Avungara clan (Azande-affiliated) reportedly supported commanders like James Nando, a former Azande opposition figure turned government-aligned, fueling proxy violence.

Despite a local peace agreement signed with community leaders in 2022, many fighters reportedly remained armed in nearby forests. Civilians expressed fear of nighttime killings even after supposed disarmament.

In his letter, Bishop Hiiboro, who serves as the President of the Integral Human Development Commission of the Sudan and South Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SSS-CBC) calls upon the country’s government from the highest office to the most local chief to act with boldness, compassion, and resolve.

He goes on to urge leaders in the country, which gained independence from Sudan in 2011, to declare Tombura county a zone of urgent national peace intervention and deploy protection forces to stop all violence and restore law.

He also calls for the disarmament and dismantlement of “any illegal persons holding firearms”, declaration of an end to concealed sponsors, and the need for open space for inclusive dialogue involving chiefs, youth, women, churches, and civil society.

Bishop Hiiboro also wants leaders in the country to find ways of ending hate speech, misinformation, and tribal incitement without delay and to ensure humanitarian access and rebuild social services, health, schools, and clean water.

The South Sudanese Bishop also appeals on the people of God in the country to play a role in ending the conflicts in the region, describing the violence and its effects as a shared pain to be handled collectively.

“Tombura is not alone. When one limb suffers, the whole body aches. This is not a Tombura tragedy; it is a South Sudanese wound. We are all brothers and sisters. There is no ‘them’ only ‘us,’” he says.

Bishop Hiiboro calls upon elders to “rise with wisdom and counsel”, mothers and women to be voices of healing and moral resistance, and the youth to shun any efforts to be used as weapons of destruction but to choose peace and build South Sudan.

He further urges faith communities in the region to stand united in truth and reconciliation, and for the international community, the Catholic Bishop cautions against looking away, noting that peace needs partners mainly to save lives.

In the statement, Bishop Hiiboro warns that continued inaction in addressing the crisis threatens the very future of the region’s inhabitants, cautioning, “If the violence in Tombura continues, the cost will be unbearable.”

Continued inaction, he explains, will lead to the disappearance of the entire community, escalation of tribal hatred across regions, erosion of faith in the government and national unity, and the loss of generations of youths to bitterness, revenge, or violence.

On the contrary, the South Sudanese Bishop says that collective action towards addressing the conflicts will heal and rise again, and children will return to school, families to their homes, and farmers to their fields.

Growth of trust among tribes, between citizens and their government, and the rebirth of the South Sudanese soul in justice are also among the fruits the Catholic Bishop says will be realized if there is a collective effort in restoring peace in the country.

(Story continues below)

On his part, the Bishop of CDTY, who also serves as the Chairperson of the Interfaith Council of Peace Initiative, Western Equatoria State, pledges pastoral commitment to the people of God until peace prevails in the country.

He pledges to speak until the truth is heard; walk with victims and wounded families; offer the Church as a platform for reconciliation and dialogue, and pray without ceasing for peace, and to work hand-in-hand with all who pursue it.

“I will not be silent. I will not give up. I believe Tombura will rise again. I believe South Sudan can become a nation of peace,” Bishop Hiiboro says in the statement he shared with ACI Africa on July 29.

As the country celebrates Martyrs' Day on Wednesday, July 30, the South Sudanese Catholic Bishop says, “Let us not shame their sacrifice with more blood. Let us honor them by bringing peace to where there is pain, and life where death has ruled.”

“Let Tombura become a sign that South Sudan chooses life. The time is now. Choose peace. Build peace. Live peace,” Bishop Hiiboro says.