---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "John Ashworth" <[email protected]>
Date: 24 Dec 2013 15:39
Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Call for Christmas Cease-fire
To: "Group" <[email protected]>
CHRISTMAS 2013 VIGIL MESSAGE
Subject: Call for Unilateral CHRISTMAS Ceasefire all over South Sudan
December 24, 2013
The eruption of violence in our national Capital of Juba last Sunday,
December 15, 2013, came upon us the Church of Western Equatoria State
with great embarrassment and pain. The events of December 15 in Juba,
and the subsequent violence undertaken across the country has left our
young country facing a huge scale of destruction and loss of precious
human life. The red clay of our newly independent soil was darkened
by the blood of violence on a bloody December Sunday, setting off a
cycle of death, revenge, and suspicion that threatens the fertile
soil, precious souls, and viability of our nation.
Our country is now facing a daunting precipice of insecurity and
instability. We the Churches of Western Equatoria denounce the current
events of violence and warfare. We the Churches call for an immediate
Christmas ceasefire in all troubled and affected areas in the Republic
of South Sudan.
We the Churches call for the aggrieved parties to resolve their
political disputes through negotiations and non-violent means. We the
Churches stand ready to offer assistance to bring about peace and
reconciliation and we call upon the leaders of the aggrieved parties
to utilize the peace and reconciliation abilities of the ecumenical
Church of South Sudan to heal the rifts and wounds of the nation.
We see the necessity of this utmost desired Christmas Ceasefire for
all hostile parties for the following justifiable reasons:
i. Peace, is a gift which the country needs to build, flourish and
prosper, particularly after those generations who suffered and died to
achieve independence and freedom.
ii. The current state of violence and retribution threatens to make
the ten states of the Republic of South Sudan disintegrate and
fragmentize our new country. The violence has already spilt over to
other states and has the potentiality of spreading further,
destabilizing not only South Sudan, but the entire region.
iii. In this current state of affairs there can be no winner. Only
dialogue, compromise and love for peace through reconciliation can
move our new nation forward and away from the precipice.
iv. Our nation needs to bind our wounds and focus our energies and
resources on the tasks at hand. A Christmas ceasefire presents to our
country and people the chance to start afresh, to build on new and
just foundations: the commonwealth for the common good, innovative
approaches to governance and development based on justice and
fairness.
v. A ceasefire will enable all concerned to suspend all offensive
military operations for the entire duration of the Christmas season,
and a ceasefire can pave the way for dialogue and a sustained peace.
vi. This call for a Christmas ceasefire will allow those in conflict
areas, whether a combatant, or civilian, safe passage to celebrate
Christmas with their families, far from all harm.
vii. A Christmas ceasefire gains added urgency with the call for
healing and rebuilding that resonate in this Season where we celebrate
the birth of Christ our Savior who came to bring peace and grace, and
His promise of a new life to all.
viii. A Christmas Ceasefire stops all war of words, inflammatory
statements and use NON-VIOLENCE language. No abusive language at this
time.
In a matter of several days, the violence in this Christmas season has
already claimed more lives, properties and insecurities, than in any
other Christmas season in recent memory, leaving our young nation
deeply traumatized and scarred. Our people and our land are just
recovering from the ravages of war, and have only recently experienced
the joys of independence and freedom. The current crisis threatens to
put our nation and its children in the thralls of war again.
This Christmas season our people and our leaders are faced with
extraordinary challenges! A view from the precipice contains
troubling vistas of unparalleled and incomprehensible chances for
destruction. Most assuredly, recent events have stretched our nation,
indeed all of our minds and hearts, to their limits.
In this season of faith, hope and solidarity, where we celebrate the
birth of the Christ child, let us remember that we are an infant
nation and that we must embrace peace, hope and the love of God as we
bind ourselves together as a people for the long-term effort to
rebuild, reconcile, and reconstruct this nation which our people so
deserve.
May the peace and goodwill that must dwell in our hearts become
building blocks for a healing and enduring peace in our new born
Republic of South Sudan.
1. Barani Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, Bishop of the Catholic
Diocese of Tombura-Yambio
2. Bishop Samuel Peni, Bishop of Nzara diocese Episcopal Church
of the Sudan
3. Bishop Wilson Noah Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sudan and
South Sudan
4. Rev. Pastor Nathan, Seven Days Adventist Church
Barani Eduardo Hiiboro KUSSALA
Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio
"We have come from Far, We are still Far and we are going very Far"
Tel. +211916689897 or +211955966955-
END
______________________
John Ashworth
Sudan, South Sudan Advisor
[email protected]
+254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile)
+211 919 695 362 (South Sudan mobile)
+27 79 832 8834 (South Africa mobile)
+44 750 304 1790 (UK/international)
+88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone)
PO Box 52662 - 00100, Nairobi, Kenya
This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily
reflect the views of any organisation
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