By Paschal Norbert
YAMBIO, NOVEMBER 2, 2021 (CISA) – “We have been saddened by the event which has befallen you during these last days, where armed confrontations with civilians have erupted in the Capital of Sudan, Khartoum. This is not good news for us neither for you or any peace lover,’’ said Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, in his Solidarity Message of Hope and Courage to the people of Sudan, dated October 27, 2021.
The Chairperson of Interfaith Council for Peace Initiative, Western Equatoria State, South Sudan, observed that scores have been killed and injured in clashes between soldiers and street protesters who are against the military that seized power from the transitional government on October 25.
“Already, we told not less than ten people have died as result, such heart-rending scenes of innocent lives dying in the streets wound the conscience of a nation. In the no distant past, already several lives were lost in the similar violence, so let the Sudan sacred ground not be soaked once more in fraternal blood. The sadness of parents burying their children has to stop. Parents’ tears are never a blessing to any nation,” the Bishop warned.
Bishop Kussala spelt a period of humanitarian catastrophe is on the peripheries of the political impasse.
“The forced uprooting is exacerbating an already precarious humanitarian situation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving many people in urgent need of basic essentials,” said Bishop Kussala.
The prelate urged the people of Sudan “to pray and fast for reconciliation as the nation is locked in hopelessness and despair through the coup. This is a time for prayer. This is a time for fasting. This is a time for conversion for all in this country.”
“As a way forward, I urge the people of God in Sudan to seek the path to conversion and to accept dialogue in the spirit of truth and honesty,” he added.
Bishop Kussala also urged the people to turn to God and seek a path of peace while quoting, “The Holy Book of the Qur’an; it forbids aggressive warfare (Qur’an 2:190): “…God loves not the aggressors.”
“The Holy Book of (Qur’an 59:23) happily encourages that, peace is one of the names of God himself: “He is God, other than whom there is no god, the King, the Holy, the Peace, the Defender, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Omnipotent, the Supreme,” said the Bishop.
