January 11, 2010

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) is calling for urgent action from the international community in supporting the effective implementation of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005, and in preventing recurrence of conflict in the country.

In a statement released today coinciding with the CPA's fifth anniversary on 9 January, LWF General Secretary Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko pointed out that the people of South Sudan were yet to see any "peace dividend in terms of improved security or development, and their confidence in the peace process has been badly undermined."

The CPA, signed between the Government of the Republic of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement / Sudan People's Liberation Army granted a six-year interim period of administrative autonomy to South Sudan, which would be followed by a referendum in January 2011 to decide whether South Sudan should become an independent country.

Noko expressed the LWF's grave concern about the deteriorating situation in South Sudan in view of rising violence, chronic poverty, political tensions, and the growing risks of renewed conflict.

He noted the rising insecurity increasingly impedes access by the LWF Department for World Service (DWS) program in South Sudan to remote communities. DWS work is focused on the peaceful reintegration of returnees including the rehabilitation of infrastructure and promoting agricultural self-sufficiency.

"Donors must in the meantime address the terrible – and deteriorating – humanitarian situation in South Sudan through a significant increase in emergency funding, and increased support for local religious entities and NGOs which have the best capacity to reach South Sudan's most remote and vulnerable communities," the general secretary stated.

He affirmed the LWF's support for recommendations of a January 2010 report by ten non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in South Sudan, which particularly emphasizes the international community's crucial role in supporting the southern Sudanese government capacity to provide internal security and protect civilians.

Noko reiterated the LWF's commitment for continued collaboration with local churches and other partners in the framework of the Sudan Ecumenical Forum to strengthen the peace process in the country and improve the lives and prospects of all the people of Sudan.

LWF/DWS initial work in Sudan began in the mid-1970s with emergency relief response to famine in Juba and Malakal. Compelled to withdraw its operations in 1986 for security reasons, the LWF resumed emergency response to food insecurity again in 1997. The current DWS country program based in the southern town of Torit was re-established in 2007. (431 words)

The full text of the LWF statement is available on the LWF Web site at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/LWF_Documents/LWF_Statement_South-Sudan-1_2010.pdf.

More information about DWS work in Sudan is available at: http://www.lutheranworld.org/What_We_Do/DWS/Country_Programs/DWS-Sudan.html.

Lutheran World Information