Picture credit: Bible Society / Clare Kendall
As rebel forces and government troops in South Sudan attacked one another again this week, a senior MP from the country has called on ABLI to mentor the fledgling country’s leaders.
The Hon Anne Lino Wuor Abyei is attending the forum with two other members of parliament.
‘There is a spirit of rebellion in South Sudan,’ she said. ‘The nation is bearing the consequences of this as far as feeding is concerned. There is terrible inflation. There is insecurity in many places. Some areas are still inaccessible.
‘I think there will be a famine and people will die of malnutrition.’
ABLI representatives needed to call private meetings with both government and opposition leaders, she said.
‘ABLI with its leadership training should set up meetings with the leadership of the country because many of them call themselves Christians but are not practicing Christianity,’ said Anne Abyei. ‘ABLI should show them what the Bible says about all these things and that we must be peace-makers.
‘We have the UN who are bringing peace-keepers. But we must be peace-makers,’ she said.
‘I run the MPs Christian Fellowship and I want ABLI to support me in reaching the 28 states across the country to reach the leadership.
‘Then we have the issue of high corruption, taking the government money. If we had used this money for the infrastructure, roads, schools and houses – and we have the worst roads in the world – what would our country be like?
‘I want ABLI to restore hope in the people through the Word of God. I want ABLI to mentor South Sudan’s leaders.
‘ABLI shouldn’t leave everything to the UN and politicians. The Church’s voice must be loud enough.’
Her words came against the background of the threat of a full-blown military confrontation in the world’s youngest nation. The country gained independence five years ago, following a 2005 agreement that brought to an end the world’s longest-running civil war.
But independence did not bring peace to South Sudan. It had its own civil war between 2013-2015. This saw 2.2 million people – a quarter of the population – being displaced. Since then, sporadic fighting has continued. An estimated 20,000 people flee the country every week.
‘If the leaders are to be faithful then they do not put themselves first, but they need to put the nation first,’ said Hon Abyei.
She is the grandmother of the country’s only surviving quintuplets, now aged nearly 8 years old. How worried is she for the future of her grandchildren?
‘I have hope for South Sudan because of my quintuplet grandchildren,’ she says. ‘I tell my children not to run away and to continue to work for the country.
‘But there is a hopelessness among people. Even the quintuplets with their mother, they would like to go away. There is such a sense of the unknown.’
Picture credit: Bible Society / Clare Kendall
Hazel Southam
