Amid civil war, South Sudan’s church leaders pledge to be models of reconciliation

June 10, 2015

Inspired by the example of Rwanda’s Christians 21 years after the Rwandan genocide, South Sudan’s bishops and other Christian leaders pledged to be models of “reconciliation and forgiveness in our words and actions.”

The South Sudanese Civil War, which pits the government (largely supported by members of the Dinka people) against rebels (made up largely of the Nuer people), began in 2013 and has led to the displacement 1.5 million people from their homes.

“We have learned many things from them: the need for reconciliation, forgiveness, humility, unity and leadership,” leaders of the South Sudan Council of Churches said following a June 1-7 retreat in Rwanda. “We have seen how they developed their country after the genocide of 1994, and how they addressed the pain, anger and bitterness of those terrible events.”

 

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Further information:

• S SUDAN: We Shall Spearhead Reconciliation, Catholic Bishops say (CISA)