Presiding Bishop issues statement on the situation in Sudan

By The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori/Presiding Bishop

It is with great sorrow that I have received, in recent days, reports from brother bishops and other Episcopalians in the Sudan of the latest round of humanitarian atrocities committed by the so-called Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Since the beginning of this year, several parishes and villages in the Dioceses of Mundri and Ezo have fallen victim to LRA attacks that have included killings, child abductions, executions by decapitation and other unspeakable crimes. Tragically, the violence appears only to be spreading, with reports now coming that LRA activity has spread across southern Sudan to Torit, Kajokeji, Lainya, Yei, Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, and Lui.

For more than 22 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army, an Ugandan rebel group, has terrorized people in the region. After many years of conflict in Northern Uganda, where the Anglican Church and others bore heroic and unremitting witness for peace in the face of upheaval, the LRA in recent years has expanded its attacks into other countries in the region with increasing frequency. Last fall, we heard reports of rebel attacks on a synod meeting of the Anglican Church in the Congo that arose in response to the LRA, and in December, we heard with shock of the LRA massacre of 400 people in a Roman Catholic parish in the Congo. This month’s LRA attacks on Episcopalians and others in the Sudan, a place where fighting between north and south continues to threaten an already fragile peace, are the latest signal to the world that stronger international action is necessary in order to stop the LRA’s reign of violence in the region and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

An Episcopal group from the United States, led by Bishops Frank Gray and David Jones and also including representatives of the Diocese Chicago, will be traveling through the Sudan beginning next week and will be meeting with the Sudanese House of Bishops. I have asked Bishops Gray and Jones to brief my staff and me upon their return so that we may best tailor an advocacy response.

In the meantime, I would like to ask Episcopalians living in the United States to do four things:

  • First, please endeavor to learn more about the crisis brought on by the Lord’s Resistance Army, and to tell others in your community about it. Shining light on the suffering wrought by the LRA is the most effective way to inspire advocacy. A good place to begin learning is a story on the most recent LRA attacks published by Episcopal Life Online last week at //www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104279_ENG_HTM.htm as well as the Episcopal Church of the Sudan’s website at sudan.anglican.org/lrattacks/.
  • Second, take a minute and email the White House through the recently redesigned www.WhiteHouse.gov/comment. Urge President Obama, who spoke during his campaign about the need to stop the LRA, to work with other international leaders to ensure: (1) a viable strategy to arrest LRA leaders and bring them to justice; (2) robust protection for civilians as the governments of Southern Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue a joint effort to apprehend LRA leaders; (3) a negotiated end to the LRA’s activity in the region; and (4) an adequate deployment to the region of UN peacekeepers. The White House also can be reached at 202-456-1111.
  • Third, contribute to the vital work of Episcopal Relief and Development, whose programs in the region help provide humanitarian aid, especially adequate food and shelter, to those being uprooted by the LRA’s atrocities. Episcopal Relief and Development can be found online at www.er-d.org.
  • Finally, pray frequently for the people of central and eastern Africa who are or have been victims of the LRA. The Anglican Churches in Africa are deeply prayerful communities, and I know the degree to which they treasure the solidarity of our prayers together. May God, who is the “author of peace and the lover of concord,” and who sent Jesus Christ to “preach peace to those who are far off and those who are near,” inspire all the world’s people to work together for peace in the midst of conflict.

This statement is available on EpiScope: //episcopalchurch.typepad.com/episcope/ and Episcopal LIfe Online: //www.episcopalchurch.org/elife/