Zim church leaders help restore peace in South Sudan

Clinton Moyo and Loveness Mpofu, Sunday News Reporters
CHURCH leaders in Zimbabwe are helping their counterparts in South Sudan to restore peace in their country where thousands of people have lost their lives.

Under the banner of Ecumenical Church Leaders Forum in Zimbabwe (ECLF), the church leaders met their South Sudanese counterparts last week in Bulawayo to equip them with skills on conflict resolution.

Speaking at a Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution and Transformation workshop, ECLF executive director Dr Ambrose Moyo said it was important that church leaders help restore peace among ethnic groups who have been at loggerheads for more than four years in South Sudan.

“What we know and what we have experienced is that when there is no peace people start beating each other and killing each other and all the development and investment get destroyed in the process. So what really made us invite the South Sudanese was that we know development without peace is not sustainable. You can invest in development but if there is no peace in the country it is a waste of resources,” said Dr Moyo.

Bishop Simon Lual Bang from South Sudan said interactions with their Zimbabwean colleagues was one of the many ways of seeking to restore peace in their country.

“Many of our people have gone to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, North Sudan and Ethiopia. People are gone and churches have been closed down. The situation is getting worse with people who were living together, people who were praying together no longer seeing eye to eye,” said Bishop Bang.

He called upon all religious leaders in Africa to work together in peace building saying one country’s problem was a problem for the whole continent.

“We do not want our continent to be pointed out as violent. We, therefore, call upon all religions to join hands in fighting violence among people in African nations,” said Bishop Bang.

Archbishop Garang Deng also from South Sudan said conflict resolution was key in healing the people from his country.

“It is now our role to take whatever we learnt here to our communities back home so as to achieve peace, reconciliation and healing,” said Archbishop Deng.

South Sudan is the world’s newest nation in the northern part of Africa bordered by six countries and has been affected by war since its birth in 2011.

According to international agencies, more than 500 000 people have died so far during the civil unrest.

Statistics by the United Nations show that more than one million South Sudanese have sought refuge in Uganda, while at least a million more have fled to Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic as the war has escalates.