The National Council of Churches/Church World Service on Sudan Issues
A Backgrounder
By the Rev. Dr. Bob Edgar, NCC General Secretary
The National Council of Churches and its global service and witness ministry, Church World Service, are deeply engaged in efforts toward ending the murderous war in Sudan, a goal that has been a high priority for more than two decades and one which is reflected in our programs. Without peace, egregious violations of human rights, including religious persecution, are likely to continue in Sudan.
We also have forwarded nearly $13 million in aid for Sudan emergency relief over the last 15 years. And we are providing assistance to refugees from Sudan – among other things, helping to resettle in U.S. communities 300 of the more than 3,000 "lost boys of Sudan."
We care enormously about the suffering in Sudan and we are responding.
Supporting Sudanese Christian Councils
Throughout the terrible war years, we have accompanied Sudanese Christians, building on longstanding relationships between the NCC and Sudan’s church community. We support the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC), which operates in northern and southern Sudan, and the New Sudan Council of Churches (NSCC), which was established when the war made it logistically difficult for one council to serve all needs in the south. Widely representative of the church in Sudan, both councils include Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant communions.
Sudanese Christians understand best what will make for peace in their country. We actively support the two councils as they work cooperatively under incredibly difficult conditions to build a grassroots movement for peace. They are carrying out pioneering efforts for dialogue among Sudan’s extremely diverse racial, ethnic and religious groups—groups whose differences have degenerated into hostilities under the pressure of political power struggles going back to the colonial era and before. Contributing to this pressure is the scramble for southern Sudan’s resources, including water rights and oil.
These divisions especially have fractured the south—where most Sudanese Christians live. Fighting among groups in the south has had devastating effects on the population and has made it nearly impossible for southern Sudanese to enter into effective negotiations with the government, which is based in the north. The government of Sudan has eagerly exploited these divisions to its own advantage. While it is generally acknowledged that the government of Sudan bears the greatest responsibility for human rights violations perpetrated during the conflict, not many people know that factionalism in the south has actually resulted in a greater number of deaths than clashes between government and rebel forces.
With such knowledge comes greater clarity about the essential need to support Sudanese church groups that are taking the lead in peacemaking in the south and throughout Sudan. The New Sudan Council of Churches has had remarkable success with its People to People Peace Process. The process has resulted in a peace agreement between the two largest tribal groups in the south; it is being extended to other ethnic groups, and it has been held up as a model for political and military leaders. This historic 1999 Wunlit agreement was signed in a tent made of blankets purchased with CWS funds—a fitting symbol of ecumenical efforts to support the peace process.
Presently, the conditions to sustain unity and peace are not yet in place. Broad support from the international community to strengthen the NSCC-led People to People Peace Process is critical.
Here at Home
Addressing our own government, we and other faith-based organizations have pressed for policies and actions that will promote peace. CWS has expressed concern specifically over policies that we believe will exacerbate ethnic tensions in southern Sudan and place aid workers in jeopardy. Recently we also arranged for Sudanese Christian leaders to visit with congressional representatives. These Christian leaders underlined the need for sound polices with their powerful witness.
CWS has also pressed for U.S. policies that assist victims of conflict in Sudan. We have for example, urged the U.S. to admit a higher number of African refugees to this country, including Sudanese, and to provide adequate funding through the U.S. Migration and Refugee Assistance program that helps refugees worldwide. Our support for international efforts to ban landmines and to assist victims of landmine explosions also has immediate significance for Sudan, which has been heavily mined.
In order to educate our constituency and others on Sudan, our Church World Service Web pages and other media make reliable information available. Links are also provided to other reputable sources of information, including the United Nations, which we support in its approach to halting slavery in Sudan by addressing root causes. Unlike the simplistic picture presented by some who manipulate religious animosity and add fuel to the flames consuming Sudan, NCC/CWS information reflects the complexities of Sudan. We give a clearer picture of the problems and what it will take to solve them. Only a just and lasting peace will rid Sudan of slavery, religious persecution and other human rights violations.
Assisting the Survivors of War
CWS Helps Resettle "Lost Boys of
Sudan"
Even as we work for peace, survivors of the war need help now. CWS is currently resettling in U.S. communities 300 of the more than 3,000 "lost boys of Sudan." They are among the many thousands of unaccompanied boys who, orphaned by the fighting in Sudan, began an incredible and dangerous journey on foot to Ethiopia, were forced back to Sudan, and finally trekked on to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Most died along the way.
Even before the boys came to America, CWS staff in Kenya did the work necessary to process these and other "lost boys" for resettlement, operating under contract to the U.S. government. The lost boys are among the most recent of the significant numbers of Sudanese whom we have resettled since 1994.
CWS has also issued frequent appeals for aid to assist the victims of civil war in Sudan—one of the longest running conflicts in the world. We have forwarded nearly $13 million worth of aid for Sudan emergency relief over the last 15 years. That figure does not include our assistance for persons in refugee camps outside of Sudan, such as Kakuma, that provide a temporary home for Sudanese refugees.
This year, to date, we have issued appeals to our 36 Protestant and Orthodox member communions and to the public totaling $125,000 for emergency relief in Sudan. The funds will go for desperately needed relief supplies for internally displaced persons and for all Sudanese affected by war and by alternating drought and flood conditions that have exacerbated the crisis.
NCC/CWS policy is to provide humanitarian assistance always on the basis of need, never along the lines of religion, ethnicity, or the political system under which people happen to live. In the case of Sudan, the need has been greater in the south and, therefore, the greater portion of the aid that we have funded has gone there. Working through both our Christian partners in Sudan, the SCC and the NSCC, we have helped to provide food and other emergency supplies and we have supported displaced persons as they rebuild their lives. We have supplied agricultural tools, support for education and health services, and other humanitarian aid.
For more information on NCC/CWS Sudan work and how to support it, visit Church World Service's Web pages (search for "Sudan") or call Church World Service at 1-800-297-1516.
April 12, 2001