Posted by Press Release on 1/10/2011, 10:54 am
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ACN News: Saturday, 1st October 2011 – SUDAN Stop the fighting in Sudan Bishop makes appeal as ongoing violence causes refugee crisis to escalate By John Pontifex AN urgent plea for peace in Sudan has come from a leading bishop amid reports that within one month 25,000 people have fled to Ethiopia to escape the fighting. Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum described how in Sudan’s Blue Nile State, on the border with South Sudan, entire villages and towns lay virtually deserted after people fled aerial bombardments. Amid no sign of an end to the fighting between Government of Sudan armed forces and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N), Bishop Adwok stressed the scale of the humanitarian crisis prompted by the clashes which began almost a month ago. In an interview with Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, he said: “People are having to walk a long way to find safety. The only things they have are what they can carry. “We need to pray for peace. We need to appeal for peace.” (Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum © ACN) Bishop Adwok’s comments come after the UN estimated that in September alone 25,000 Sudanese crossed the border into Ethiopia. A number of refugees arriving in Ethiopia are from Sudan’s South Kordofan State, again on the border with South Sudan, where hundreds of thousands have been displaced as a result of violence dating back to June. With hostilities still continuing in both Blue Nile State and South Kordofan, the UN expects refugee numbers to continue rising. Bishop Adwok is coordinating emergency aid for people fleeing Blue Nile State capital, Damazin. Working with priests and catechists in the region, food, blankets, medicine and mosquito nets are being provided by Aid to the Church in Need, which supports persecuted and oppressed Christians. Meanwhile the UN is masterminding a massive emergency relief operation in Ethiopia. Bishop Adwok stressed the problems involved in stepping up the relief work. He said: “Reaching the displaced people is problematic because of the terrain and the difficulty of crossing the [Blue Nile] river. The whole area is occupied by armed forces.” Bishop Adwok reported how a catechist had returned to the parish compound in Damazin and found the city relatively calm but with tension in outlying villages. “There is a lot of aerial bombardment going on which is taking place outside the main towns.” Conflict in Blue Nile State and South Kordofan follows a breakdown in relations between the Government of Sudan and the SPLA which held local political control, reporting to their one-time opponents, the Khartoum-based regime. In early September Sudan president Omar al-Bashir sacked Blue Nile State governor Malik Aggar, the SPLM-N’s chairman and shut down the SPLM-N’s offices in the country. Editor’s Notes Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action. The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, Aid to the Church in Need’s Child’s Bible – God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world. While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charity’s press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material. For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. On Line donations can be made at www.aidtochurch.org