KENYA: President Ruto Appeals for Prayers for South Sudan

By Arnold Neliba

KITALE, JANUARY 24, 2023 (CISA)-President William Ruto has made a passionate appeal to the church in Kenya to pray for peace and stability in the neighbouring Republic of South Sudan.

Speaking during the Episcopal Consecration and Installation ceremony of Rt Rev Henry Juma Odonya, as the second bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Kitale, presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio to Kenya and South Sudan, Archbishop Hubertus Maria van Megen, President Ruto invited prayers for “our sister country of South Sudan”.

“You know our nuncio represents the Holy Father in Kenya and South Sudan, you know we have very serious challenges in South Sudan,” the head of State said.

Amidst peace challenges in the neighbouring country, President Ruto appealed to “our bishops and the church to pray for South Sudan, our neighbour, so that God can bring about peace, can bring about stability, so that we can eliminate the conflict and the suffering that is going on in South Sudan. I am asking as president of Kenya that we pray for our sister country of South Sudan.”

Insecurity in South Sudan has affected neighbouring countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda, which house refugees from the country.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), seven years after South Sudan’s independence, over four million people have been displaced and 7.6 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.

Pope Francis is scheduled to make an apostolic visit christened Ecumenical Pilgrimage of Peace to the country with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from February 3 to 5, 2023.