IRD Calls For Action To Prevent Radical Islam From Taking Over Sudan

UCMPage.Org ^ | Diane Knippers

[xzins]

IRD Calls For Action To Prevent Radical Islam From Taking Over Sudan

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From: mail@ird-renew.org Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 4:09 PM To: jwarrene@ucmpage.org

Subject: Urgent Action Alert on Sudan

Dear Friends:

North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Liberia, the War on Terror….

Perhaps you think our government has enough on its plate. Today, I beg to differ.

The IRD has just received an extraordinary document from the Catholic and Episcopal bishops of Sudan. These courageous Christian leaders are imploring the world not to forget the plight of their people. We are releasing their appeal immediately.

The bishops offer inspiring pastoral admonition to their own people living in crisis. But they also have a word for the world community as well. They call for renewed diplomatic attention to end the decades-long civil war.

The Sudanese bishops identify one particular threat. The Government of Sudan wants to abandon the current peace process being mediated by several neighboring African nations (called the IGAD process). The Khartoum government wants to negotiate under the leadership of Egypt and Libya. This would be a disaster. It would betray the legitimate aspirations of all the Sudanese peoples for peace and freedom. It would betray the Church.

The bishops are clear in what they are seeking from the international community. Keep the current peace process on track. Act deliberately, but firmly, in building a just and lasting peace. And make clear that there will be international sanctions against those who resort to war.

The appeal from these Christian leaders of Sudan is to our government, but also to American Christians. Please read these documents, now on the IRD website, carefully. Please contact your members of Congress and the White House and urge continued pressure and support for the IGAD peace process. Please share this with others as well.

This is an urgent matter. It is urgent because the lives of our brothers and sisters in Sudan are at stake. But I believe the future of democracy in Africa is at stake as well. Radical Islam is seeking to expand its influence into sub-Saharan Africa. The front lines of this aggression now cut through Sudan. If radical Islam is stopped in Sudan, it can be stopped throughout the continent. If not, the future of moderate Muslims, Christians and others across that continent will be grim indeed.

Won’t you act today?

Sincerely,

Diane Knippers President Institute on Religion and Democracy

- IRD Press Release: "CANS Stands With Sudanese Church leaders" - http://www.ird-renew.org/News/News.cfm?ID=712&c=3

- Letter from Sudanese Bishops: "The War Must Stop" - http://www.ird-renew.org/Liberty/Liberty.cfm?ID=713&c=33

September 5, 2003

The following is a letter produced by the Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops of Sudan urging the continuation of peace talks in the war-ravished nation.

 

THE CATHOLIC AND EPISCOPAL BISHOPS OF SUDAN

 C/O:  Provincial Liaison Office, P.O. Box 604 Khartoum, Sudan

 

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH:  THE WAR MUST STOP

We the Catholic and Episcopal Bishops of Sudan, meeting in Lweza, Kampala, Uganda from 27^th July to 2^nd August 2003 for a seminar on Transforming Sudanese society from a culture of war to a culture of peace, affirm the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) peace process for Sudan under the leadership of Kenya as the only viable peace process.  It has achieved a great deal and provided a glimpse of hope and optimism to the people of Sudan.  We welcome the progress that has been made to this date, but we note with concern the current diplomatic impasse in response to the Draft Framework for the Resolution of outstanding issues arising out of the elaborations of the Machakos Protocol.  The Government of Sudan stated that the proposal was “unfair, contradictory and unfit to constitute a basis for negotiation,” while the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement Army said that it would discuss nothing but this draft when talks resume.  These two positions are diametrically opposed to each other, and we urge all interested parties to maintain the integrity of the Machakos Protocol and not to allow the process to collapse.

We, as church leaders, are on the ground with the people throughout Sudan and we experience the pain, trauma and yearnings of the grassroots.  We speak on behalf of the voiceless and seek to articulate their legitimate concerns.  We believe that these concerns and fears have not been adequately addressed and have not been incorporated fully into the peace process.  The people of Sudan demand a peace that is just, democratic and enduring, a peace that will guarantee their security and human rights and allow them to determine their own political future.  We are aware of the deep level of mistrust and indeed broken trust within Sudan.  While we welcome international pressure on the warring parties to encourage them to conclude a peace agreement, we caution that undue haste could result in an agreement that is not sustainable.  We therefore call for credible international assurances of the implementation of the agreement and the security of all the Sudanese people, regardless of their political, ethnic, or religious affiliation.

We express our sincere gratitude for the international political will which has brought the process so far forward.  We affirm the role of the Troika (USA, UK, and Norway) in leading international support for the IGAD process, and Italy and Switzerland for their cooperation with the Troika.  The international community has increasingly played a practical role in addressing human suffering in many parts of the world, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kosovo and Sierra Leone.  This is a clear responsibility under the UN Charter.  However Sudan has not yet received the same level of attention and intervention as other countries.  While we welcome the initiatives which have already taken place, we urge the international community to play a decisive role at this critical stage in the Sudanese peace process.  In particular we recognize the special role of the USA in global security, the UK’s historic connections with Sudan, and Norway’s leading role in peace making, and call on them to exert further effort in ensuring the success of the IGAD process.

We appreciate the care and confidentiality needed to build confidences in negotiations about sensitive and complex issues, but we are concerned that the ownership of the process and its outcome be shared by all stakeholders.  Experience in other conflicts has shown that without inclusivity and transparency there can be no just and lasting peace.  We therefore call for the inclusion of civil society and all military and political factions, and for the free dissemination of information regarding the peace process.  

Enough is enough.  The war must stop.  War is not an option.  Peace must prevail.  The threat to resume the war in the event of a setback in the IGAD process is totally unacceptable and so not to be countenanced by any party.  The people of Sudan totally reject a return to war.  They urgently need a just and peaceful solution to the conflict.  The international community must be in solidarity with the people.  Nations and international organizations must ensure that credible sanctions will be instituted against any party that might resort to war and that the people of Sudan will be adequately protected.

For our part, we, as Sudanese Church Leaders, commit ourselves and our churches to participate at every level in the formulation of a new Sudanese society with social structures which mediate grace; to the development of civil leaders and democracy education for our people; to continued advocacy for the cause of peace; and to serve as agents of healing in our communities. We call on all parties in Sudan as well as all people of good will throughout the world to support and assist us in building a just and lasting peace in our beloved country.

1st August 2003

Signed by the Catholic and Episcopal Bishops of Sudan
Together with the Secretaries of SCC and NSCC

A DECISIVE MOMENT FOR THE PEOPLE OF SUDAN

A Pastoral Letter to the People and Political Leaders of Sudan and all Persons of Good Will

To the faithful Christians and all who share a common concern for peace in Sudan.

1. From us, your Pastors and Spiritual Leaders, the Catholic and Episcopal Bishops of Sudan, meeting together through the power of the Holy Spirit as members of the one body of Christ, grace and peace in God our Father and in our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. We have been sharing experiences and reflection together for one week in Luweza, Uganda to consider ways and means of transforming Sudanese society from a culture of war to a culture of peace at what we see as a propitious moment of challenge and opportunity in the history of our country Sudan.  The IGAD peace process is at a critical point.  The peace for which all our people have yearned for so long is in sight and yet the process is also at risk of collapse.  There is an atmosphere of great opportunity but also of great anxiety.

3. Many people are fearful of what will happen next in Sudan.  We take courage from God’s promise to his people, “Be strong, fear not for your God will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35: 4) and from our Lord’s rebuke of the storm “Peace, be still” when the disciples cried out, “Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4: 38, 39).  The current uncertainties are testing us and teaching us a greater reliance on God.  But we must not lose heart.  God’s gift of peace will be granted to people who are ready for it, if people are humble and faithful.  We, your Shepherds, are with you.  For all of us, we are not to rely on our own power but to rely on Christ who can rebuke the storm.

4. Peace is too valuable a good to be left to the warring parties alone to achieve.  It is an enterprise of justice, love and forgiveness.  God grants peace to people and communities who fear, love and revere him and who care for peace and harmony among men and women.  Warring parties are too often too preoccupied with retaining or consolidating power and wealth and use strategies far distant from the teachings of the heavenly religions.  They cannot therefore be left to have the last word.  We all see the devastating effects of war – when two elephants fight, the grass suffers.

Enough is enough.  The war must stop. 

Every member of our society has a national, community and personal responsibility to work for peace.  We must accept that responsibility.  We are called to start peace in our own communities.  We must each be purified from violence.  We must ignore the threats of those who talk about going back to fighting.  It is our duty and right to speak out for peace.  No human power can prevent us from speaking out for peace.  We know that it is dangerous to speak of true peace where freedom of speech is curtailed.  We must not be afraid of what might happen to us if we speak out for peace.  The time demands it of all of us to speak the truth, whatever the cost.

5. To bring a just and lasting peace, we must ourselves be united.  We are offered a vision of the unity of all creation in Christ.  As Christians we experience that unity in Christ, but we are called to realize a wider unity with our neighbor, whatever their faith or ethnicity, on the basis of our God-given humanity.  Our God teaches us to go beyond the difference to one human family.  Divisions within the Church are a particular offence against God.  In Christ there is no distinction between Jew or Greek, male or female, but all are united through the one Spirit of God into one Lord, one faith and one baptism (Ephesians 4: 4-5).  As Church we are called together from our different tribes and cultures and are enriched by our cultural and tribal diversity.

6. God is our Father who takes care of us and bids us care for one another.  Without support from the community, people lose their dignity and are prone to temptation and a loss of sense of self-worth.  We must help one another to recognize ourselves as children of God, for whom Jesus died.  He continues to be with us – Emmanuel:  God with us (Matthew 1: 23).  We need to rediscover the sense of care and mutual support of the Early Church, both amidst the difficulties experienced now and the challenges anticipated in the times ahead.  Our communities are called to come to the aid of their weaker members – to care and to share.  No true believer is too poor to give.  God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9: 7).

7. We have been born anew in the Spirit through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We are free from slavery to power and greed.  We cannot sell our integrity for food, money, or position.  Those who do may be Christian by name but their faith is weak and they have lost trust in God and a sense of their own personal dignity and identity.  But we are still called to pray for them – God still cares for them and loves them and is ready to embrace them when they return to him (Luke 15: 20).  For our part, we must welcome them and treat them as our brothers and sisters.  Again, we cannot wait upon material assistance from abroad – dependency detracts from the dignity given us by God.  We urgently encourage a spirit of self-reliance amongst our people and a readiness to take action ourselves.

8. We also discern at this time a special calling of the Church to become an agent of healing in our communities.  All of us have suffered and at times caused suffering to one another.  But we recognize the power of God to forgive and to heal.  We are called to let go of hurts, to be ready to forgive, as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us.  We are to be reconciled with one another and be ready to accept those returning to our communities whatever their particular experience or affiliation during the war.

9. We are at a decisive moment for the people of Sudan when we must move ahead or else fall into the abyss.  We are accountable before God as the generation to which this moment is offered on behalf of the next generation.  We must let go of our differences, self-centeredness and past grievances and be willing to sacrifice and work hard for this vision to become a lived reality, namely a vision of Sudan of peace, justice, harmony and well-being.  We call on all our leaders to look beyond vested interests of wealth and power for the sake if all our people and show themselves to be true servants of the Sudanese people.  We believe in the power of God to accomplish all these things.

The Catholic and Episcopal Bishops of Sudan

1^st August 2003

CANS Stands with Sudanese Church Leaders: The War Must Stop

Contact: Meghan Graham

September 5, 2003

In August the Catholic and Episcopal Bishops of Sudan issued a call for continuing negotiations to bring about just and lasting peace in war-torn Sudan. Their statement, recently received by IRD’s Church Alliance for a New Sudan (CANS), came in the wake of the Government of Sudan’s July 12 rejection of a draft document during the sixth round of talks in the peace process. The statement voices the concern of the Sudanese people that, if the talks do not go forward, the war will resume. “The people of Sudan totally reject a return to war,” said the bishops. “They urgently need a just and peaceful solution to the conflict. The international community must be in solidarity with the people.”

The bishops, meeting in Lweza, Uganda, affirmed the IGAD mediation process (The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, “IGAD,” includes Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda), as “the only viable peace process.” The bishops were responding to proposals to replace IGAD with an Egypt and Libya-led peace process. The bishops’ statement also welcomed international pressure on the warring parties but cautioned against “undue haste,” which could result in an agreement which is not sustainable. The Sudanese bishops, led by the Most Rev. Paulino Lukudu Loro, Archbishop of Juba and president of the Sudanese Catholic Bishops Conference, and the Most Rev. Dr. Joseph Marona, Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of Sudan, committed themselves and their churches to participate in the creation of a new Sudanese society. “We, as church leaders . . . experience the pain, trauma, and yearnings of the grassroots,” the bishops declared. “The people of Sudan demand a peace that is just, democratic, and enduring . . . that will guarantee their security and human rights and allow them to determine their own political future.”

The bishops thanked nations supporting the IGAD peace process, particularly the U.S., the U.K. and Norway. But the bishops gently rebuked the international community for not giving Sudan the same level of attention and intervention as it has other countries such as Kosovo and Sierra Leone. Recalling the mistrust and broken agreements within Sudan, they warned that the desire quickly to conclude peace talks could result in a peace that was neither just nor lasting. They exhorted the international community to provide “credible assurances of the implementation of the agreement and the security of all the Sudanese people, regardless of their political, ethnic, or religious affiliation.” They emphatically called for “credible sanctions” against any party that might resort to war.

The Uganda meeting, July 27-August 2, had the theme “transforming Sudanese society from a culture of war to a culture of peace.” The bishops committed themselves and their churches “to participate at every level in the formulation of a new Sudanese society with social structures which mediate grace; to the development of civil leaders and democracy education for our people; to continued advocacy for the cause of peace; and to serve as agents of healing in our communities.”

CANS director Faith McDonnell is urging churches to call for renewed effort by the U.S. to ensure the success of the IGAD process. CANS will also work with churches and others to assist the people of Sudan in the rebuilding of their country. “CANS’ top priority is to work with churches, other Sudan advocates, and members of Congress for the implementation of the provisions of the Sudan Peace Act to aid in the peace process and the rebuilding of Sudan,” she said.

IRD president Diane Knippers declared a just and lasting peace in Sudan should remain a priority for U.S. government foreign policy. “We understand that our government faces several critical international crises. But the future of democratic Africa is at stake in how the war in Sudan is resolved,” she warned.

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[xzins]

This is an urgent matter. It is urgent because the lives of our brothers and sisters in Sudan are at stake. But I believe the future of democracy in Africa is at stake as well. Radical Islam is seeking to expand its influence into sub-Saharan Africa. The front lines of this aggression now cut through Sudan. If radical Islam is stopped in Sudan, it can be stopped throughout the continent. If not, the future of moderate Muslims, Christians and others across that continent will be grim indeed.

[miltonim]

Bump

[I_love_weather]

Bump

[xzins]

The Khartoum government wants to negotiate under the leadership of Egypt and Libya. This would be a disaster. It would betray the legitimate aspirations of all the Sudanese peoples for peace and freedom. It would betray the Church

That would be like putting the Wahabbis in charge of peace in Bosnia.

[xzins]

since the Catholic bishops are part of this appeal, you might want to hit your ping lists

Also, if you know any with Anglican ping lists, then I'd appreciate the alert.

Americans are entirely too complacent about martyrdom and massacre in the Sudan.

[FormerLib]

Paging Free Republic's newest Muhammedan apologist!

Oh, I can't wait to see how he blames this one on the Serbs!

[bluelowrider57]

I dont know wut i can do hence i dont have a job yet, but ill put those bishops in prayer.

[xzins]

The following is what the article asks us to do.

The appeal from these Christian leaders of Sudan is to our government, but also to American Christians. Please read these documents, now on the IRD website, carefully. Please contact your members of Congress and the White House and urge continued pressure and support for the IGAD peace process. Please share this with others as well.

[Ronly Bonly Jones]

Hmn. Sounds like you must really fear me, to rattle on like this. I must be doing my job, telling uncomfortable (to Serbocrazies, at any rate) truth.

[FormerLib]

Fear you? I just want to make sure you're properly identified so that no one mistakes you for a loyal American!

[cookcounty]

"Americans are entirely too complacent about martyrdom and massacre in the Sudan."

--Real martyrdom, being killed because you publicly stated your beliefs, not whack-headed child abuse.

[maestro]

Radical Marxism is NOT dead?

[Sparta]

I think if these peace talks fail, the US should aid the freedom fighters in the Sudan to the best of our abilities.

[xzins]

the best of our abilities

TOW and Bradley exchanges should send just the right message.

[TrueBeliever9]

Kalibu Academy
In the midst of war, famine, horrible stories of oppressions, continual bombings by Khartoum, recent missile attack, there is ONE place in New Sudan that stands out as a source of hope, a lighthouse for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.....the new Bible School located in Yei. www.kalibu.org