October 12, 2010
By Lynette Wilson

Standing beneath the words of Isaiah 2:4 – "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" – ecumenical religious leaders from Sudan Oct. 12 led a candlelight vigil for peace in their war-torn country.

About 20 people gathered at the Isaiah Wall in Ralph Bunche Park on First Avenue opposite United Nations headquarters in New York for the vigil.

The religious leaders are in the United States on an awareness and advocacy campaign in advance of the Jan. 9 referendum in which south Sudan is expected to vote for independence from the north. On Oct. 11, the leaders met with U.N. officials and Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the situation in Sudan and to talk about U.N. oversight in the upcoming referendum.

The referendum is the final provision of Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), signed in 2005 by the two warring parties – Sudan People's Liberation Movement in the south and the north's Khartoum-based Government of Sudan. The CPA ended a 21-year civil war – fought by the Arab and Muslim north and rebels in the Christian-animist south – that killed more than 2 million people and displaced an estimated 7 million more.

The delegation includes Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of the Episcopal Church of Sudan; Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Adwok of Khartoum; Roman Catholic Bishop Emeritus Paride Taban of Torit; the Rev. Ramadan Chan, general secretary of the Sudan Council of Churches; the Rev. Sam Kobia, Sudan envoy for the All Africa Conference of Churches (formerly general secretary of the World Council of Churches); and John Ashworth, Sudan advisor for Catholic Relief Services and Sudan Ecumenical Forum.

The Episcopal Church of Sudan and the Roman Catholic Church in Sudan represent two of the largest non-government organizations in southern Sudan. The Episcopal Church has 31 dioceses, 26 of them in the south. The Roman Catholic Church operates two archdioceses – one in the north, including one diocese, and one in the south, including eight dioceses.

In addition to meetings with U.N. officials in New York and a panel discussion hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations on Oct. 14, the delegation's 12-day awareness and advocacy campaign includes a visit to Washington, D.C., where they will meet with government officials and take part in an interfaith prayer service.

Episcopal News Service
Lynette Wilson is an ENS staff writer.