10,000 take refuge at cathedral in South Sudan

August 22, 2017

Ten thousand people fleeing the violence of the South Sudanese civil war have taken refuge in and near the nation’s largest church, St. Mary’s Cathedral in Wau.

“Space is at such a premium that some people even sleep next to the church’s altar,” the IRIN news agency reported.

A priest at the cathedral told the agency, which reports on humanitarian crises, that “those who flee believe that even rebels still fear God and would not slaughter civilians in the backyard of a church. Many other churches have also taken in hundreds of people.”

 

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Further information:

• Cathedral becomes refuge of last resort for South Sudan’s displaced (IRIN)