Archbishop joins calls for action to save Sudan from new conflict

The Archbishop of Sudan the Most Rev Daniel Deng joined protesters outside Downing Street on Saturday calling for urgent action to prevent Sudan from sliding into another war.

Archbishop Deng and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams are due to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss the situation on Monday.

Ten aid agencies came together to warn last week that major conflict could return to Sudan unless the world acted now to save the Comprehensive Peace Agreement which ended the protracted war between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The CPA entered its final year on Saturday.

The aid agencies included Christian Aid, World Vision, Tearfund, Caritas, Oxfam and Save the Children.

They warned that the Sudanese government and international peacekeepers were failing to protect the civilian population, particularly women and children, from attacks by rebels.

Last year, some 2,500 people were killed and 350,000 forced to abandon their homes and seek shelter in camps for internally displaced persons.

Threatening the fragile peace are the approaching elections, Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years, and a referendum on whether Southern Sudan should secede and become independent.

The aid agencies called on the UN to make safeguarding civilians a priority and appealed to the international community to minimise the chances of fresh conflict by mediating between the northern and southern parties ahead of the elections and referendum.

“It is not yet too late to avert disaster, but the next 12 months are a crossroads for Africa’s largest country," said co-author of the report Maya Mailer, Policy Advisor for Oxfam.

"Last year saw a surge in violence in southern Sudan.

"This could escalate even further and become one of the biggest emergencies in Africa in 2010.”