{"id":1951,"date":"2017-05-08T14:06:54","date_gmt":"2017-05-08T13:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/combonimission.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1951"},"modified":"2017-05-08T14:06:54","modified_gmt":"2017-05-08T13:06:54","slug":"south-sudan-bishop-kussala-to-foster-reconciliation-and-healing-in-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/2017\/05\/08\/south-sudan-bishop-kussala-to-foster-reconciliation-and-healing-in-society\/","title":{"rendered":"South Sudan: Bishop Kussala – \u201cTo Foster Reconciliation And Healing In Society\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The president of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference called on leaders in South Sudan\u2019s Bahr El Ghazal region to fight segregation and division, uniting to work for peace in the violence-ridden country.<\/em><\/p>\n

Achieving peace, said Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, \u201cdemands of all of us that we act with real respect for human life. It demands that those who still sponsor anger, hate, segregation and violence against one another end such meaningless projects or ideas\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bishop Kussala has recently published \u2018An Open Letter of Hope and Peace to the Elders of Greater Bahr El Ghazal’. \u201cWith this letter I am indeed consulting leaders of civil society, religious leaders, community organisations, business, cultural and other leaders in Greater Bahr El Ghazal to seize an opportunity on such initiatives\u201d,<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n

South Sudan has been embroiled in civil war since December 2013, when South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir accused his former deputy, Riek Machar, of attempting a coup. The war has been fought between their supporters, largely along ethnic lines, and peace agreements have been short-lived.<\/p>\n

The conflict has created more than 2.5 million refugees. At present, some 4.5 million people face severe food insecurity, a number expected to rise one million by July.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the core of the crisis within South Sudan\u2019s war-affected communities and regions is the desire to acquire power and secure resources for one group of elites or one ethno-national group at the expense of others\u201d,<\/em> Bishop Kussala continued.<\/p>\n

This has created tension and division, and \u201chas undermined the social fabric of our society or nation\u201d,<\/em> even affecting neighbouring countries as refugees seeking the escape the conflict flee to other nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all of these cases, violence has led to the breakdown of our beloved homes\u201d,<\/em> Bishop Kussala pointed out. \u201cHuman lives have been lost. Infrastructure has been destroyed, education and health services have suffered, and the environment has been damaged. The ties that link people together\u2026have been broken, social solidarity has collapsed and political tension has been highly generated\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

These conflicts arise from self-interested elites who take advantage of past divisions, the bishop said. However, peace is possible, as evidence by the \u201crelative peace, development and economic growth after our national independence shortly in 2011\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In an efforts to restore this stability, Bishop Kussala called on the elders of Greater Bahr El Ghazal to \u201cengage all stakeholders<\/em>\u201d in seeking peace, allowing for dialogue and supporting genuine efforts aimed at reconciliation and healing. <\/p>\n

He urged the elders to publically and unequivocally condemn revenge killings, violence against civilians and the use of hate speech which fosters tribal division. In addition, he said, they should \u201ccall urgently for immediate robust humanitarian intervention for the starving people\u201d,<\/em> pushing for roads to be opened to aid workers delivering food for the hungry population.<\/p>\n

Efforts are needed both to prevent further killings and to foster reconciliation and healing in society, the bishop said. He also recommended an independent investigation into atrocities against the community, in order to hold perpetrators accountable.<\/p>\n

In solving these problems, it is important to remember the role of culture. \u201cPeople derive their sense of meaning from their culture\u2026Cultural attitudes and values\u2026provide the foundation for the social norms by which you as a people exist and live\u201d,<\/em> he noted. \u201cThrough internalising and sharing these cultural attitudes and values with fellow community members, and by handing them down to future generations, societies can \u2013 and do \u2013 re-construct themselves on the basis of a particular cultural image\u201d<\/em>, Bishop Kussala said.<\/p>\n

Achieving peace will require an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, repentance and an offering of forgiveness, the bishop said. It will also require \u201ca way for members of these communities to \u2018re-inform\u2019 themselves of their rich history of co-existence with a cultural logic that emphasises sharing and equitable resource distribution\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Greater Bahr El Ghazal should draw their strength from each other as one people\u201d<\/em> he emphasised. \u201cYou have common humanity, heritage, history and you are socially interwoven\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference called on leaders in South Sudan\u2019s Bahr El Ghazal region to fight segregation and division, uniting to work for peace in the violence-ridden country. Achieving peace, said Bishop Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, \u201cdemands of all of us that we act with real respect for human […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/combonimissionaries.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}