STATEMENT
OF THE PRESIDING BISHOP ON
ATTACKS BY THE “LORD’S RESISTANCE ARMY” IN
THE SUDAN
It is with
great sorrow that I have received, in recent days, reports from
brother bishops and other Episcopalians in the Sudan of the
latest round of humanitarian atrocities committed by the
so-called Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Since the beginning of
this year, several parishes and villages in the Dioceses of
Mundri and Ezo have fallen victim to LRA attacks that have
included killings, child abductions, executions by decapitation
and other unspeakable crimes. Tragically, the violence appears
only to be spreading, with reports now coming that LRA activity
has spread across southern Sudan to Torit, Kajokeji, Lainya, Yei,
Yambio, Ibba, Maridi, and Lui.
For more than
twenty-two years, the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel
group, has terrorized people in the region. After many years of
conflict in Northern Uganda, where the Anglican Church and
others bore heroic and unremitting witness for peace in the face
of upheaval, the LRA in recent years has expanded its attacks
into other countries in the region with increasing frequency.
Last fall, we heard reports of rebel attacks on a synod meeting
of the Anglican Church in the Congo that arose in response to
the LRA, and in December, we heard with shock of the LRA
massacre of 400 people in a Roman Catholic parish in the Congo.
This month’s LRA attacks on Episcopalians and others in the
Sudan, a place where fighting between north and south continues
to threaten an already fragile peace, are the latest signal to
the world that stronger international action is necessary in
order to stop the LRA’s reign of violence in the region and to
bring the perpetrators to justice.
An Episcopal
group from the United States, led by Bishops Frank Gray and
David Jones and also including representatives of the Diocese
Chicago, will be traveling through the Sudan beginning next week
and will be meeting with the Sudanese House of Bishops. I have
asked Bishops Gray and Jones to brief my staff and me upon their
return so that we may best tailor an advocacy response.
In the
meantime, I would like to ask Episcopalians living in the United
States to do four things:
First, please
endeavor to learn more about the crisis brought on by the Lord’s
Resistance Army, and to tell others in your community about it.
Shining light on the suffering wrought by the LRA is the most
effective way to inspire advocacy. A good place to begin
learning is a story on the most recent LRA attacks published by
Episcopal Life Online last week at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_104279_ENG_HTM.htm
as
well as the Episcopal Church of the Sudan’s website at
http://sudan.anglican.org/lraattacks/.
Second, take a
minute and email the White House through the recently redesigned
www.WhiteHouse.gov/contact/. Urge President Obama, who
spoke during his campaign about the need to stop the LRA, to
work with other international leaders to ensure: (1) a viable
strategy to arrest LRA leaders and bring them to justice; (2)
robust protection for civilians as the governments of Southern
Sudan, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue
a joint effort to apprehend LRA leaders; (3) a negotiated end to
the LRA’s activity in the region; and (4) an adequate deployment
to the region of UN peacekeepers. The White House also can be
reached at 202-456-1111.
Third,
contribute to the vital work of Episcopal Relief and
Development, whose programs in the region help provide
humanitarian aid, especially adequate food and shelter, to those
being uprooted by the LRA’s atrocities. Episcopal Relief and
Development can be found online at www.er-d.org.
Finally, pray frequently for the people of central and eastern
Africa who are or have been victims of the LRA. The Anglican
Churches in Africa are deeply prayerful communities, and I know
the degree to which they treasure the solidarity of our prayers
together. May God, who is the “author of peace and the lover of
concord,” and who sent Jesus Christ to “preach peace to those
who are far off and those who are near,” inspire all the world’s
people to work together for peace in the midst of conflict.
