Showing posts with label Caritas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Caritas. Show all posts

Thursday, March 14, 2024

South Sudan Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala: Our people ‘on brink of destitution, slowly perishing’

"THE country, South Sudan, seems to be going round in circles from one calamity to the next and back. The saddest reality is our inability to overcome the effects of these calamities and cushion our people against them." He [Bishop Kussala] said that unless these issues are addressed, he fears his people will not survive, “especially because the majority of the population (64%) are helpless youths who have no source of income, while most of the remaining 36% are elderly persons.” Read more.


From National Catholic Register
Dated Monday, 11 March 2024 - here is a copy in full:

South Sudan Bishop: Our People ‘on Brink of Destitution, Slowly Perishing’


Bishop Hiiboro Kussala painted a grim picture of the situation of women, girls, and children in the world’s newest and youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011.

Photo: A camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Renk, South Sudan. (Credit:   Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development)


The people of God in South Sudan are in urgent need of external support, the president of the Integral Human Development Commission of the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SCBC) has said.


In a March 8 letter addressed to “the head of Caritas network, people of goodwill, and the international community,” Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala described the desperate situation of his compatriots, who he says are “on the brink of destitution” and are “slowly perishing” amid challenges occasioned by violent conflicts and COVID-19.


“Our people continue to suffer the effects of complex emergencies, which are still being experienced in many parts of the country, including those parts that had previously been peaceful,” Bishop Hiiboro Kussala said in his three-page letter dated March 8.


The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) “has increased tremendously across the country,” he said, adding that these are South Sudanese “living in deplorable conditions and are starving.”


The bishop, who leads South Sudan’s Diocese of Tombura-Yambia, highlighted the fact that “women, children, the aged, and people living with disabilities” are bearing the brunt of the conditions in the East-Central African nation.


Bishop Hiiboro Kussala painted a grim picture of the situation of women, girls, and children in the world’s newest and youngest country, which gained independence from Sudan in July 2011. 


“Consider the South Sudanese mother who watches her child die because of malnutrition caused by severe hunger; the young man who dies in the hospital because there is no medicine to treat him; the 9-year-old girl who, for a piece of ‘bambe’ [potato], is forced to sell her body; and the emaciated old woman who is lying inside her ramshackle hut awaiting death to take away her suffering,” he said.


“Those still living in their homesteads are equally facing starvation since most of them have had to, ironically, abandon their sources of livelihood in a bid to save their lives,” he said. “Most school children have had to drop out of school because of insecurity and fear of being forcefully recruited to serve as soldiers in the conflicts.”


These challenges are compounded by earlier negative effects of COVID-19 restrictions, Bishop Hiiboro Kussala further lamented, explaining that “South Sudan is also still struggling to overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw our already fragile economy come to a near collapse.”


“COVID-19 saw many people lose their jobs and livelihoods, causing those who were previously self-reliant to become dependent on well-wishers,” he said.


The challenges of the people of God in South Sudan have worsened by the country’s “skyrocketing inflation,” the bishop noted, adding that “many people can no longer afford to buy even the cheapest of foodstuff. As a result, the poverty levels in the country have increased, with the number of families going hungry escalating.”


“The state of calamities in the country has been worsened by floods in some areas and severe drought in others,” he lamented. “The country, South Sudan, seems to be going round in circles from one calamity to the next and back. The saddest reality is our inability to overcome the effects of these calamities and cushion our people against them.”


He said that unless these issues are addressed, he fears his people will not survive, “especially because the majority of the population (64%) are helpless youths who have no source of income, while most of the remaining 36% are elderly persons.”


As president of the Commission for Integral Human Development of SCBC, which brings together Catholic bishops in Sudan and South Sudan, Hiiboro Kussala appealed for external support, imploring them to “not get tired of our knocking on your doors once again and again … because you are our only hope and therefore light at the end of the tunnel.” 


“It is no longer about the country and its leadership but about the people of South Sudan, who are slowly perishing,” the bishop said. 


In his letter, the bishop acknowledged with appreciation the support of the international community over the years. “You have been our anchor amid troubled waters, and we can only say thank you and pray that the good God may reward you in ways that only he can,” he said.


View original: https://www.ncregister.com/cna/south-sudan-bishop-our-people-on-brink-of-destitution-slowly-perishing


END

Thursday, January 07, 2010

UK Foreign Office Minister Glenys Kinnock to visit Sudan

Poverty and rising violence are causing tension between southern and northern Sudan. Sudan's ambassador to London, Omar Muhammad Siddiq, says communities are arming themselves and are fighting "tribal wars", mainly over the competition for scarce resources.

South Sudan 'deteriorating'

The BBC's James Copnall in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, says the country is clearly at the start of a highly charged and risky 12 months.

However, he notes that unlike at the outset of previous crises, there is a heavy international presence in the country.

The military worth of the UN peacekeeping mission has yet to be tested, but nearly 10,000 military personnel are charged with keeping the peace, he says.

Sudan's ambassador to London, Omar Muhammad Siddiq, acknowledged that the situation in South Sudan was "deteriorating".

He said communities there were arming themselves and were fighting "tribal wars", mainly over the competition for scarce resources.

"The situation is not as good as we were expecting after the signature of the comprehensive peace agreement," he said.

However, he argued that the unrest would not affect the elections, in which he said parties and voters were preparing to participate.

British Foreign Office Minister Glenys Kinnock, who is due to visit Sudan, noted that it was one of the world's poorest countries.

"They are doing disastrously, and that is reflected in the terrible poverty and relentless suffering of the people," she said.

But she added that fully-blown conflict could still be averted.

"I think we still have time to ensure that we do see a peaceful, stable Sudan being built around the framework of an election and a referendum," she said.

"What we're asking is for the leadership of both sides, of the government of the South and the government of Sudan, [is] that they ensure that they talk together, they work together with the same motivation, which is to bring peace and security to Sudan."

See full story and video of UK Foreign Office Minister Glenys Kinnock at BBC News report 01:46 GMT 07 Jan 2010: Aid groups warn of Sudan civil war risk.
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FULL TEXT: Report by Caritas; Christian Aid; Cordaid; Handicap International; International Rescue Committee (IRC); Oxfam; Save the Children Alliance; Tearfund; World Vision

Click here to read 07 Jan 2010 report entitled 'Rescuing the Peace in Southern Sudan'. [Thanks to ReliefWeb plus Associated Press report at The New York Times 07 Jan 2010 entitled Aid Groups Issue Warning on Southern Sudan]