Bishop renews call for prayer for South Sudan and Sudan as agreement to resume oil production is finally reached
The
nations of Sudan and South Sudan need each other, a South Sudanese
bishop has said as an agreement is announced on renewing oil production.
"Having
good relations between Sudan and South Sudan is crucial for both
countries," said the Rt Rev Anthony Poggo, Bishop of the Diocese of
Kajo-Keji,
on a visit to CMS. "As people who were once one country, we must be
good neighbours."
Bishop
Poggo renewed calls for prayer for South Sudan and Sudan, including for
the implementation of the agreement on oil production.
Yesterday just such a deal was announced after talks in Ethiopia, according to the BBC
News website.
Production was suspended in January 2012 by South Sudan, after the two countries could not agree on sharing oil revenues.
This
resulted in a severe austerity budget in South Sudan, which received 98
per cent of its income from oil. This especially affected building of
infrastructure and providing services, and led to cuts in civil service
salaries.
"The
average person in the rural area is carrying on with their life.
Indirectly they are affected because prices have definitely gone up,"
said
Bishop Poggo.
An agreement on resuming production was reached in September last year but not implemented.
Most
of the oilfields are in South Sudan, while refineries and pipelines are
in Sudan, and oil is without doubt the biggest area of tension between
the two countries. Oilfields are also found in the Abyei region – a
border area which both nations are still arguing over.
The
bishop, from the far south of South Sudan, asked people to persevere in
prayer, just as the Sudanese people persevered through the war years
and still do now, despite facing so many difficulties.
He
highlighted conflict in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile regions, as
well as the still-unresolved conflict in Darfur, saying, "When there is
peace
in the whole of Sudan there will be peace between Sudan and South
Sudan."
The
international community still had a role to maintain pressure on both
countries to solve these areas of dispute and conflict, said the bishop.
Between
1956 and 2005 when the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was signed, Sudan
had seen just 11 years of peace. The war resulted in two million deaths
and 4.4 million people displaced.
The
task of rebuilding remains monumental. Nevertheless, people have hope.
"People are glad there is peace in most parts and glad to have a new
country
– people feel they are first class citizens in their own country.
"The
important thing is that people are willing to persevere. They have in
the past and are willing to persevere for a little longer."
As
far as the church in Kajo-Keji diocese is concerned, training is the
top priority. During the war, leaders were ordained on an emergency
basis
to cope with growing church numbers. This means most have no formal
theological training. The diocese has opened a training college which
has 83 students, 57 of them lay leaders.
Priorities for the church are evangelism, empowerment and education, said the bishop.
The diocese runs a community empowerment process and works in both primary and secondary education.
"Many
people have not had the chance to go to school," said Bishop Poggo. "So
mothers don’t know malaria is carried by mosquitoes, or that dirty
water carries water borne diseases.
"Education enables people to stand on their own."
CMS
also contributes to the work of the diocese, said the bishop. "We link
up very well – one of the CMS mission partners Garry Ion [a construction
engineer] has been helping us with advice on what we have been able to
build, We are very, very grateful for that.
Prayer points from Bishop Poggo
Pray
for us to persevere and be patient as we wait on the changes that have
to happen in our nation. People have at times been disappointed and
discouraged
as they had hoped to receive the dividends of peace and the new nation.
That
church would remain faithful to its calling and the needed resources
would become available for all that we need to undertake.