Sudan update - UN prayers, MU involvement

Ecumenical prayers for peace in Sudan start at UN Chapel

Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Roman Catholics and Mennonites gathered at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York Dec. 3 to launch a weekly noontime prayer vigil in solidarity with the people of Sudan in the lead up to the Jan. 9 referendum, in which the south is expected to vote for independence from the north.

"The first line of defence for Christians is prayer," the Rev. Petero Sabune, the Episcopal Church's program officer for Africa, said during the vigil. "Right now people are praying in Nzara, Renk, Torit and Mundri. Prayer is a powerful thing; it can go through space and time."

Throughout the season of Advent and leading up to the referendum people are invited to pray for peace in Sudan on Fridays at noon eastern time. People throughout the 31-diocese Episcopal Church of Sudan have committed to praying at noon local time in solidarity with people worldwide.

The referendum is the final provision of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 by the two warring parties -- Sudan People's Liberation Movement in the south and the north's Khartoum-based Government of Sudan. The CPA ended a 21-year civil war -- fought by the Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south -- that killed more than 2 million people and displaced an estimated 7 million more.

Voter registration is key

Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of the Episcopal Church of Sudan and Roman Catholic Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba registered on Nov. 23 to vote in the upcoming referendum on independence when southerners in Sudan will decide whether or not to secede from the north. By registering, the archbishops qualify for voting on Referendum Polling Day, scheduled for Jan. 9, 2011.

Delays in voter registration had been a major concern in the lead-up to the referendum, one of the key terms of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement that was signed in January 2005 bringing an end to two decades of civil war between the north and the south. With international assistance, including the deployment of United Nations and Carter Center referendum observers, voter registration commenced on Nov. 15 and was recently extended to run until Dec. 8.

MU key player in Sudan church recovery

Janette O’Neill, representing the Episcopal Church (USA) in early November was in Sudan. She writes in the Episcopal News service, “I was pleased to be invited to a meeting called by the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) at its headquarters in Juba. The agenda was daunting -- it focused on how we can all work together to help sustain the vision and grow the mission of ECS. All of the participants were committed to supporting Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul and other ECS leaders as they deal with issues related to the referendum of Jan. 9. The referendum could potentially lead to the secession of southern Sudan.

Many of us were there to represent partners from the United Kingdom and the United States. The partners included the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (AFRECS) and the United Kingdom's Sudan Church Association (SCA), the Diocese of Salisbury and the Episcopal Church. Church agencies and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) attended, including the Mothers' Union, Episcopal Relief & Development, Christian Aid, Tear Fund and Across. These organisations support the Church of Sudan at a provincial level. ECS was represented by Bishop Alapayo of Rumbek, Bishop Oringo of Torit and Bishop Amidi of Lainya.

Full report at:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_125925_ENG_HTM.htm


See also report this site ealrier this month - Police raid church office