SUDAN: “Church Needs to be With the People,” Says Catholic Peace Builders on the War in Sudan

Sr. Henriette Anne, FSSA

The unexpected fight that broke in Sudan six weeks ago has led to the suffering of a number of people especially the women and children as well as huge effect on the civilians, who are not part of the war, two Catholic peace builders have said.

In their conversation on African Catholic Voices focusing on “What should the Church do?”, Sr. Teresia Wamuyu Wachira, Co-President of Pax Christi International, Mr. John Ashworth, Fellow of the Rift Valley Institute and a Catholic missionary stated in one voice that the church needs to be with the people.

“The Church should give a message of hope to the people that there is God despite the suffering. And the message is not only to be said: let us show support by reaching out to the affected people. I would like to hear the Church speaking out loud about this particular situation,” Sr. Wamuyu said in the podcast service of the Pan African Theology and Pastoral Network (PACTPAN)

Mr. Ashworth added that the Church “need to be with the people and the international church needs to speak out on their behalf.”

When asked what they are seeing in the ongoing war in Sudan, Mr. Ashworth who has 40 years of experience working with the Catholic Church in Sudan and South Sudan noted that the war has nothing to do with the people of Sudan.

“This is a fight between military factions. Civilians have no interest in this war, it is just situation that has been imposed on them by the military factions with a lot of inference from international communities,” he said.

Sr. Wamuyu, a lecturer at St. Paul University noted that it is a breakdown in the governance which means the people are not getting the services that they need like education, health care, and basic needs.

In their Wednesday, May 17, podcast, Sr. Wamuyu a Kenyan and a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin (Loreto Sisters) discussed with Fr. Stan why Pax Christi is interested in the war going on in Sudan.

In the podcast, Sr Wamuyu describes the Pax Christi as a movement that advocates for a culture of peace and “interested in seeing an end to this war, a war that is about power as opposed to the people.”

In support of Mr. Ashworth’s words that the international community has an upper hand in this war, Sr. Wamuyu said that there is interference from the international community so as members of Pax Christi they are interested in engaging the international communities to address the violence and assist in alleviating the suffering of the people of Sudan.

Mr. Ashworth in his message asked the African Union to stop tolerating the military saying, “the solution is complex, the African Union has to make it very clear, they will not tolerate the military, there must be no revolt outside.”