SOUTH SUDAN: Prelate Asks Government to Prioritize Protection of Lives
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Days after South Sudan marked its 10th anniversary of independence July 9, a Catholic Bishop has asked the government and all citizens to seriously value and protect people’s lives.
In his reflection message published Tuesday, July 20 after the country’s celebration, Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro of South Sudan’s Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio noted that Independence Day reminds citizens of South Sudan, “what we fought for, what we struggled for, our hopes and the aspirations.”
“We became a country so that as a nation we would be able to control, to protect life which God has given us…but we find ourselves after ten years still languishing,” Bishop Hiiboro disclosed and continued, “People are still dying and the number of guns in the hands of people have increased; people are taking laws into their own hands!”
The Bishop shared in his reflection that in a span of ten years if South Sudan fulfilled its expectation to respect the efforts of freedom fighters, “we would be so happy and the first law we could have put in place was to protect, to respect, and care for the lives God has given us in this Republic.”
Once we do our part the Bishop said, “The rest will fall on the line, the development will fall on the line, growth and stability will fall on the line.
He continued, making his request to the government and all citizens, “I make my appeal to all brothers and sisters in this country that now as we have celebrated the tenth anniversary of the independence of our country, may we wake up to protect, cherish and care for the lives God has given us, the lives of our brothers and sisters and ourselves. Let us do all we can and urge my government to prioritize the protection of the lives of the people and when they do that then this country will be moving in the right direction.”
The Bishop noted that the tenth anniversary of the country’s independence is a reminder of “aspirations of millions of South Sudanese who hoped to be granted their own rights as citizens of this beloved country but time and history took them too long.”
He further requested well-wishers who can support the country move the right direction not to hesitate and not to tire helping the world’s youngest nation.
