By Nicole Winfield and Deng Machol,
KINSHASA DR Congo
Pope Francis opened the second and final leg of his African pilgrimage by heading to South Sudan on Friday, hoping to encourage the young country’s stalled peace process and draw international attention to continued fighting and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Francis had one final
appointment Friday in Kinshasa with Congo’s bishops before flying to the South
Sudanese capital, Juba. There, he joins the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin
Welby, and the moderator of the Church of Scotland, the Rt. Rev. Iain
Greenshields, in a novel ecumenical push for peace.
Together, the three represent
the religious leadership of the overwhelmingly Christian country, the world’s
youngest, which gained independence from the majority Muslim Sudan in 2011 but
has been beset by civil war and conflict. The Christian leaders are aiming to
give a joint call for South Sudan’s political leaders to put aside their
differences and work for the good of their people.
Continued fighting, including
attacks this week in the south that killed 27 people, has displaced some 2
million people and hampered implementation of a 2018 peace deal, but residents
said the arrival of Francis on the first-ever papal visit to South Sudan gave
them hope.
“The pope will bring us
peace,” said Monica Lado, a 40-year-old from Juba, on the eve of the three
leaders’ arrival.
One group of about 80
Catholics from the central city of Rumbek walked for nine days, covering an
estimated 300 kilometers (around 190 miles), and arrived in Juba to cheers on Thursday.
The pilgrims were sore, tired and had blisters, but said they hoped to attend
Francis’ big Mass on Sunday and take back blessings to their homes and
families.
“As the pope is coming, I believe what was killing us will stop,” said a smiling Victoria Yar, 58, as she sat in a plastic chair to rest after the long journey.
Another pilgrim on the trek,
Mary Yom, a mother of eight, lost two children to violence. “Our country is
being destroyed by the conflict and we hope that the pope is coming with peace,
and no one will be killed again,” she said.
Francis and Welby first
announced plans to visit South Sudan in 2017, but security concerns repeatedly
thwarted the trip. In an effort to move the process forward, Francis presided
in 2019 over a joint prayer in the Vatican and famously got down on hands and
knees and kissed the feet of South Sudan’s rival leaders, begging them to make
peace.
But fighting continues,
evidence of the violence that simmers in communities at times awash with arms
and ethnic tensions in one of the world’s poorest countries. At least 27 people
were killed this week in Central Equatoria state’s Kajo-keji, in the latest
communal violence between cattle herders and other residents. Kajo-keji county
commissioner Phanuel Dumo called the attack “barbaric” and urged calm.
Overall, the International
Committee of the Red Cross this week reported an influx of wounded patients in
recent months due to renewed clashes across the country. “We see terrible
injuries, and often airlifting patients from remote areas is the only way to
save their lives,” said ICRC Juba delegation head Pierre Dorbes.
In comments on local Eye Radio
on Thursday, President Salva Kiir vowed the country would never go back to war
as long as he was in power.
“The coming of the Holy Father
to South Sudan is your prayers that have brought him,” he said.
But part of the stall in
implementing the peace accord is continued political friction between Kiir and
deputy Riek Machar, who led opposition forces during the country’s civil war
and has long been interested in holding power himself. Lack of political will
has been cited by critics for the slow implementation of the deal in a country
also hampered by alleged widespread official corruption.
In Juba, Francis is widely
expected to repeat his call for both men and all parties in South Sudan to
commit to making progress on the accord and to put an end to corrupt practices.
Already, delays forced the postponement of the country’s first presidential
election for another two years.
In addition, Francis is
expected to call for an end to continued clashes and the dreadful plight of
women in South Sudan.
The U.N. Commission on Human
Rights in South Sudan last year reported that “widespread rape” was being used
as a weapon by all armed groups across the country. It expressed shock at
interviewees describing “staggeringly brutal and prolonged gang rapes
perpetrated against them by multiple men, often while their husbands, parents
or children were forced to watch, helpless to intervene.”
Additionally, the United
Nations warned in November that some 9.4 million people out of a population of
12.4 million would need humanitarian aid and protection this year, a half
million more than in 2022. It cited continued violence, constraints on access
by aid groups and climate conditions including flooding and drought as driving
up the need.
At the same time, the U.N. has
warned that the necessary funding for an increased aid response has dwindled,
as donors redirect aid budgets to Ukraine and other crises.
Poni Mary, 45, who fled the
country in 2014 during the civil war but returned to Juba last year, said she
hoped South Sudanese would use the pope’s visit to forgive one another.
“If you still have sins, anger
or problem in your heart with someone else, it will be difficult for you to
receive blessings of God,” she said.
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