YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – In the 14 years after South Sudan gained independence from Sudan, problems have increased in Africa’s newest country, says the leading Catholic in the Horn of Africa country.
Cardinal Stephen Ameyu Martin Mulla said despite the hope that independence brought, South Sudan is still reeling from the unfulfilled promise of peace, accusing the country’s authorities of mismanaging the country’s natural resources.
“We got this independence from Sudan. We thought that we were going to solve our problems. But it seems that problems have increased,” the cardinal said while at the Synod on Synodality in Rome.
He serves as the archdiocese of Juba in South Sudan, and said the country went to war because the people wanted to be free, “but now we realize that there are still issues that we have to resolve together.”
South Sudan, one of Africa’s most diverse countries with over 60 major ethnic groups, gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, following a 2005 agreement that ended Africa’s longest-running civil war.
But in 2013, the newly independent country descended into civil chaos after President Salva Kiir accused his former vice-president, Dr Riek Machar, of plotting to overthrow him.
Despite repeated attempts at peace agreements and cease-fires in 2015, 2017, and 2018, political violence and instability have persisted between government forces and opposition factions in South Sudan.
“This conflict has given rise to many opposing forces, and their respective allied militias leading to intercommunal violence,” said Father John Gbemboyo, Pastoral and Social Communication Coordinator in the Sudan Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
“The conflict resulted in a dire human rights and humanitarian crisis that continues to affect the South Sudan up to date,” he told Crux.
In 2018, a peace agreement was signed in order to resolve the conflict between all the warring parties.
The agreement required that a general election be held in South Sudan in December 2024, security reforms, the completion of a permanent constitution, and that necessary reforms should be carried out in the government.
Some of the key provisions of the agreement have remained on the paper due to “the lack of political will [to implement] and witty tactics [by politicians] in order to protect the interests of the ruling elites,” Gbemboyo said, noting that as a result, the general election billed for December 2024 has been shifted to December 2026.
In his remarks, Ameyu lamented that the lack of implementation has resulted in continued instability, corruption, and the mismanagement of resources.
“In South Sudan, we still have outlying issues of the revitalized peace agreement, which, in a way, the leadership in South Sudan is unable to implement to the letter,” the cardinal said.
He said lack of implementation means the country is still unsettled.
Gbemboyo told Crux that the continuing instability has also meant that the economic situation of South Sudan has continued to worsen. He complained about high inflation and the fact that civil servants have not been paid for ten months now and counting.
The situation has been made worse by natural disasters.
“Most parts of the country are faced with natural calamities like the heavy rains and floods that have destroyed villages, livestock, farms lands and most of the places are not accessible by road,” he told Crux.
“The high number of returnees and the refugees fleeing the war from Sudan has worsened the fragile economy in the country,” Gbemboyo said. He said most of the returnees don’t have the basics to meet their daily needs.
But it isn’t only South Sudan that is suffering. Ameyu also had very concerning words for Sudan, saying that the country is still very much unsettled.
The cardinal said the country is “bleeding” as a result of war. War broke out in Sudan on April 15, 2023, between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and a powerful paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by General Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo. The two men are fighting for state control and its resources.
It has left about 15,000 people dead, according to Global Conflict Tracker. More than 8.2 million have been displaced, and nearly 2 million displaced Sudanese have fled to unstable areas in Chad, Ethiopia, and South Sudan. The UN says more than 25 million people now need humanitarian assistance, and deteriorating food security risks are triggering the “world’s largest hunger crisis.”
“In Sudan, two generals just decided to bring war on people, and, as a result, many people have lost their lives, and many properties have been destroyed. Some of you have been in Khartoum, you wouldn’t (recognize) Khartoum any longer, they’ve bombed down all those buildings because the rebels are there, nobody is safe in Khartoum,” the cardinal said.
Ameyu said “many of our church members in Khartoum have been displaced, including the archbishop of Khartoum, who is in Port Sudan.”
“Many churches were damaged, and many properties of the church were all destroyed,” the cardinal said.
He accused the leaders of both countries of seeking power and not service, and this has resulted in the wars in both countries.
Synodality gives a lifeline
Whether it is the war in Sudan or in South Sudan, Ameyu believes the Synod on Synodality could offer a way out of the crises.
“That is one thing that this synod on synodality is emphasizing: we are not leaders in order to rule people, we’re leaders in order to serve people, this is clear in the synod,” the cardinal said.
“It is for this reason that it is important to dialogue. Without dialogue we cannot settle things in the church or in the political arena. Synodality, going together, is the way for us to resolve our own problems,” he said.
He added that “synodality — going together — is for us the way to achieve peace.”
“We think that the synod will also help us as Bishops to dialogue with them, to help the politicians resolve the social and political problems we have in the country,” Ameyu said.
Gbemboyo noted that the Synod on synodality is a good time for the global Church to invest in South Sudan’s efforts toward peace.
“South Sudan forms part of the universal Church and participated at the initial process of the Synod of Synodality at the community, parish, diocesan and Bishops Conference levels. It is a process which the Christians of South Sudan believes will continue to build them together for a better understanding of living in solidarity with one another,” he told Crux.
“The spirit of synodality can still uplift the country further because it is one of the countries where the Christians and people feel as an abandoned periphery of the world. The spirit of synodality is an opportunity for the universal Church to boast the efforts made by Pope Francis for the consolidation of peace in South Sudan,” he said.
