More Sadness for South SudanFaith McDonnell September 03, 2009
The following originally appeared in a recent Religious Liberty Program e-newsletter. If you would like to receive our weekly e-newsletter, click here and select "Religious Liberty." Find additional newsletters in the IRD E-Newsletter Archive.
The following originally appeared in a recent Religious Liberty Program e-newsletter. If you would like to receive our weekly e-newsletter, click here and select "Religious Liberty."
Find additional newsletters in the IRD E-Newsletter Archive.
On Saturday, August 29, 2009, a well-armed militia attacked the town of Wernyol in Twic County East, Jonglei State, South Sudan. They killed over 40 people, including the Episcopal Church of Sudan’s Archdeacon for Wernyol, the Venerable Joseph Mabior Garang. Archdeacon Joseph, who was also Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul’s Commissary for the new Diocese of Twic East, was shot dead at the altar of the church in Wernyol during a service of morning prayer.
The attackers, who killed men, women, and children, were armed with new automatic weapons, dressed in army uniforms, and appeared to be well-trained and organized, according to witnesses. Earlier in August, a similar militia attacked Ezo Town in Western Equatoria State. In that attack, three people, including an Episcopal lay reader, were murdered and ten children were taken from the Episcopal church property in Ezo. In both attacks, properties were destroyed, hundreds were wounded, and some 39,000 people were displaced from their homes. You may remember from my last e-newsletter that the SPLM Secretary General Pagan Amum Okiech recently warned the U.S. Congress that the National Congress Party, the Islamist regime in Khartoum, had distributed 79,000 AK-47’s to militias and other troublemakers throughout Sudan. Now we have seen the fruit of their action.
Khartoum has also continued to arm and support the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), the murderous rebel group from Northern Uganda that has been responsible for taking over 30,000 children and forcing them to be child soldiers. Sources on the ground say that the LRA is now taking children from the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the Southern Sudanese border – not to make them into child soldiers, but to provide slaves for the slave markets in Khartoum. You may remember that brutal slave raids took place in South Sudan and the Nuba Mountains for years.
A number of American Anglicans in the Diocese of Pittsburgh were hit especially hard by the murder of Archdeacon Joseph. He had been their host during their short term mission to South Sudan. The team leader, the Rev. Elaine Storm, said that Archdeacon Joseph was a man that “passionately loved Jesus” and “passionately loved God’s people.” In the photos taken by Nick Storm, Archdeacon Joseph playfully presents “availability” beads to the Storms’ daughters Danielle and Bethany. These beads are those that are traditionally worn by girls to show their availability for marriage. He beams as he drapes the beads around their necks. How wonderful and yet how painful to have such a memory of Archdeacon Joseph. Long after Danielle and Bethany are no longer “available,” I am sure they will treasure those necklaces.
Please pray for the family of Archdeacon Joseph, and the families of all of those who were killed in South Sudan. Pray for the tens of thousands who have been displaced and are still vulnerable to attack by militias and LRA. And pray for justice to prevail for all of the people of Sudan.