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Take Action for Peace in South Sudan, African Religious Leaders Tell Heads of State

Representatives of All Africa Council of Churches at a Press Conference in Nairobi: Sept. 12, 2019

On the first anniversary of the peace agreement in South Sudan, religious leaders in Africa are pushing for peace in South Sudan and want heads of state within the African region to be proactive in the peace process, the leaders stated at a press conference in Nairobi Thursday, September 12.

On September 12, 2018, South Sudan’s President, Salva Kiir and the rebel leader Riak Machar signed a power-sharing deal in which they promised to end the five-year civil strife that crippled their country in many ways. The peace deal has remained stalled twelve months on.

“We come together as the religious leaders of Africa to call for urgent action from leaders of South Sudan’s neighboring governments to ensure there is significant progress in the implementation of peace agreement ahead of the end of the pre-transition period on November 12,” religious leaders in Africa stated at the press conference.

“It is our conviction that these regional leaders have the power to influence lasting peace in South Sudan,” the clergy explained during their Thursday mid-morning press conference, calling “upon the leaders of every country in the region to come together, in line with the spirit of Pan-Africanism … and zealously support efforts that will help build a peaceful South Sudan.”

The religious leaders’ statement is signed by various faith-based leaders in Africa including Nigeria’s John Cardinal Onaiyekan, the Catholic Archbishop of Abuja.

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“The regional leaders, as South Sudan’s good neighbors, must now speak the truth to the leaders of South Sudan, on behalf of the millions of voiceless South Sudanese men, women and children who bear the brunt of the conflict,” Dr. Bright Mawudor of the All Africa Conference of Churches read the statement on behalf of the continental religious leaders.

The religious leaders particularly appealed to Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni and Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta as South Sudan’s neighbors, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa as chair of the AU High-level Ad-Hoc Committee for South Sudan, and Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed as IGAD chair, to urge President Kiir and Dr. Machar to implement the peace agreement with proactivity.

Signatories to the statement include African Council of Religious Leaders - Religious for Peace (ACRL-RP), the Council of Anglican Provinces of African (CAPA), and the All Africa Conferences of Churches (AACC).

The statement headed “Revive faith in the peace process in South Sudan,'' underlined that the South Sudanese leadership has a moral obligation to its citizens to end the violence and ensure continued progress towards peace, stability and justice.

As a demonstration of commitment to the peace process, the religious peace ambassadors also called on the regional politicians “to urge President Kiir to urgently release the USD 100 Million pledged in May this year towards the implementation of the agreement.”

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“We the religious leaders of Africa, by the grace of the Almighty God and driven by the teachings of love and peace, and the African principle of Ubuntu which calls on every person to be one another’s keeper, stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters, the people of South Sudan on this historic day,” the religious leaders stated.

“We prayerfully look forward to a peaceful, united and just South Sudan that is founded on the values of peace and love for one another,” the statement concluded.  

Various media reported Wednesday that Dr. Machar who had returned to the country on Monday and President Kiir had agreed to form a transitional government.