Archbishop calls on government to increase support for peace agreement

Dr Daniel Deng Bul, the Archbishop of Sudan, has said that the British Government should increase its support for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan to help bring an end to the suffering in Darfur.

The Archbishop said, “We are crying to the international community not to abandon the CPA. If it succeeds, then the conflict in Darfur, too, will be resolved. The British, the Italians, the Americans, and the Norwegians need to step up now. This is a crucial time,” reports Church Times.

Dr Deng was speaking in the Diocese of Salisbury last Thursday the day after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir over crimes against humanity in Darfur.

However, the ICC has no power to enforce the warrant and the Sudanese Government is unlikely to hand over Bashir as he refuses to recognise the ICC’s authority. Bashir told his supporters that the ICC could “eat” the arrest warrant.

Dr Deng spoke of the importance of the upcoming elections in Sudan and the danger that they may be postponed, “The Election Law has not yet been produced, and without it there can be no elections. There has been a deliberate delay.”

A referendum is also due to be held in two years on whether the mainly Christian south of the country wishes to remain part of Sudan.

“If the election is delayed, then the referendum could be delayed, because they are interconnected,” said Dr Deng.

He also warned that the Lord’s Resistance Army from Uganda was operating in southern Sudan. “It could create insecurity and threaten the election," he said.

“We are trying to tell the government that the CPA must not be abrogated again. If peace breaks down in Southern Sudan, it will be very difficult to bring peace back again; but if peace comes in the South, then that will be an example to the rest of the country.”

Dr Deng also spoke of the urgent need for reconciliation in a country afflicted by horrendous crimes during more than two decades of conflict.

“They were scattered [all over the world] for 21 years and now they are coming home from many different places, from Europe, from East Africa," he said. "They have never been together for 21 years and they have grown up in different cultures. The churches own a duty to bring reconciliation.”