YAOUNDÉ, Cameroon – Against the backdrop of Martyrs Day, Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio urged South Sudan to seize the crisis as a “sacred place where the nation chooses healing over hatred.”

Martyrs’ Day in South Sudan is celebrated on July 30th each year to remember all those who gave their lives for the liberation of South Sudan. Significantly, it was the same day in 2005 that Dr. John Garang de Mabior, a key figure in South Sudan’s independence movement, died in a helicopter crash.

Africa’s newest nation obtained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, following a referendum in which 98.83 percent of the people voted to secede from Sudan, ending over two decades of conflict that led to the deaths of an estimated 1.5–2 million people, and the displacement of at least 4.5 million others.

In his Martyrs’ Day message, Kussala spoke about a “wounded land” to highlight the fact that the new nation hasn’t been at peace with itself, despite the euphoria that characterized the country’s independence 14 years ago.

A prime example of the security challenges afflicting the country is the conflict taking place in Tombura.

Located to the country’s western borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, the region remained relatively stable after independence, but a combination of factors, including neglect by the central government in Juba, land disputes between farming communities – the Azande – and nomadic cattle herders – often Dinka or Nuer from other states – as well as the militarization of the region by the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA, later renamed SSPDF) led to a rise in tensions.

A 2021 clash between Azande youth and Dinka-dominated forces escalated into widespread violence. The SSPDF was accused of extrajudicial killings, rape, and burning villages. Azande self-defense groups (“Arrow Boys”) formed to counter SSPDF abuses. Other armed factions exploited instability to gain influence. And the fighting came at a huge human cost: Hundreds were killed and at least 80,000 were displaced.

And the situation has been worsened by external influence. Uganda allegedly supports SSPDF operations while armed groups from the DRC and CAR like remnants of the Lord’s Resistance Army move freely, smuggling weapons and resources.

“The cries of Tombura have echoed for too long. Four years of bloodshed, burning homes, broken families, and buried dreams. Our people live under plastic sheeting, drink unsafe water, walk in fear, and bury their loved ones in silence. This is not a political inconvenience. This is a humanitarian tragedy and a moral failure,” Kussala said in a release sent to Crux.

The bishop’s message, steeped in both lament and hope, called for decisive government action to disarm factions, ensure humanitarian access, and rebuild social services — but also for a societal awakening.

“Let Tombura be our turning point, a sacred place where the nation chooses healing over hatred, truth over propaganda, and hope over despair,” Kussala said.

He urged the government “to act with boldness, compassion, and resolve.”

“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in,” the bishop said, citing the iconic anti-apartheid activist in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

It was a way of saying that the root causes of the conflict must be addressed if any sustainable peace must be found.

He further urged the government to declare Tombura a zone of urgent national peace intervention and to deploy protection forces to stop all violence and restore law, disarm and dismantle any persons holding firearms illegally.

He also called for the opening of spaces for “inclusive dialogue” involving chiefs, youth, women, churches, and civil society; punish hate speech, misinformation, and tribal incitement, and ensure humanitarian access and rebuild social services – health, schools, and clean water.

“Let Martyrs’ Day Wednesday, July 30th—be your moment of honor. Let it be remembered that on this day, you chose peace for Tombura,” he appealed to the authorities.

The bishop emphasized that ordinary people of South Sudan have their role in ensuring that peace returns to the country, because the conflict constitutes “our shared pain.”

“Tombura is not alone. When one limb suffers, the whole body aches. This is not a Tombura tragedy, it is a South Sudanese wound,” Kussala said.

He therefore called on the elders to “rise with wisdom and counsel,” on mothers and women to “be voices of healing and moral resistance,” on the youth to “refuse to be weapons of destruction,” on faith communities to “stand united in truth and reconciliation,” and on the international community to “not look away,” because peace needs partners and lives need to be saved.

Kussala warned of a future at risk if nothing is done, predicting that whole communities could be decimated, tribal hatred would metastasize across regions, faith in government and national unity would erode even further and generations of youth will be lost to bitterness, revenge, or violence.

“We will be judged by history, by God, and by our children not for what we said, but for what we refused to do, “the bishop said in a direct appeal to conscience.

As a spiritual leader, he pledged to “speak until truth is heard…walk with victims and wounded families…offer the Church as a platform for reconciliation and dialogue and pray without ceasing.”

“The Church’s teaching is absolute: life must be protected above all else, for no one possesses the right to extinguish another human life,” Father John Gbemboyo, Director of Social Communication for the Sudan Bishops’ Conference, told Crux.

“Consequently, those entrusted with leadership bear the solemn duty to shield every citizen, with particular care for women and children,” he emphasized.

If South Sudan chooses peace over war, Kussala predicted “a new dawn for South Sudan” where Tombura will “heal again” and peace will flourish in the country.

“Children will return to school, families to their homes, and farmers to their fields. Trust will grow among tribes, between citizens and their government. The soul of South Sudan will be reborn not in blood, but in justice,” the bishop said.