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Jun 20, 2011 | Emily Cherry

Sudan: Peace, Prayer, Partnerships are Tops for U.S. Friends

[Episcopal News Service] July 9 marks the date that South Sudan will celebrate its official independence as a sovereign nation. It's a date that has loomed large on the calendar for the Episcopal Church of Sudan (ECS) since the January 2011 referendum, when the people of South Sudan voted overwhelmingly to separate from North Sudan. This vote came following the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which brought a tenuous peace and end to about 50 years of civil war.

 

Maintaining such a peace was at the forefront of a three-day conference of the American Friends of the Episcopal Church of Sudan (AFRECS), which met June 17-19 at Christ Church, Glen Allen, in the Diocese of Virginia. A group of about 100 partners, advocates and others interested in supporting the ECS gathered under the theme "The Church and Sudan: Partnering for the Future."

 

With some 4 million members, the ECS well understands its role as a peace-keeping force amidst the ongoing conflict that has continued in the wake of the referendum. "It is well known that the church has often been central to reconciliation efforts between the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Government of South Sudan, and rebel militias," wrote ECS Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul in a letter to AFRECS attendees. But reconciliation is a tall order amidst ongoing violence. Much of the source of contention lies over political power, land and oil rights. Khartoum, the seat of government in the north, and Juba, the seat of government in the south, "have been unable to reach a compromise on land settlement and border issues, particularly where the issue of Abyei and other oil rich areas located along the border are concerned," wrote the archbishop in his letter.

 

Read more from ENS.