CONFRONTING TURMOIL in South Sudan

S By Edward Dima

outh Sudan struggled during 21 years of civil war, which ended in 2005 with the signing of the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement in Kenya. It gave us an opportunity to decide on the fate of South Sudan, whether to remain united to Northern Sudan or not. The people of South Sudan decided to hold a referendum, the results showing that South Sudan deserves to be a nation. On July 9, 2011, we were declared as an independent state. We progressed very well until December 15, 2013, when

there was a rift in the ruling party, the SPLM. The whole thing became an ethnic conflict between the Dinka and the Nuer. Other tribes got involved. On December 15 and 16, 2013, there was a massive killing in the capital, Juba, and other areas as well.

Places such as Malakal and Bentiu in the Upper Nile

region crumbled politically and militarily with a massive amount of people fleeing these locations. Many are currently IDPs (internally displaced persons). In Bentiu, there are about 100,000. In areas like Malakal there are about 45,000 IDPs. Many other locations in South Sudan are hosting refugees, even in the capital, Juba, where I recently visited two IDP camps. One is the Nuer camp with about 45,000 IDPs that are hosted by the UN. There are said to be about 35,000 people who fled Malakal to Juba for safety. In the 2013-2014 civil war we had about 15 months

of intensive military fighting between the ruling party, the SPLM proper, and the SPLM in opposition. This is the same party that broke into factions along ethnic lines. A massive number of people from various tribes were killed. This is the political situation currently in our country, and it is terrible. I visited those IDPs on July 4 and 5,

Edward Dima, president of the Baptist Convention of South Sudan

including Maban County, which is hosting about 100,000 refugees from Northern Sudan. As Baptists, our intention is to start Baptist work among the Muslims in Maban, where we have three churches. One is in the Nuba Mountains, and the other is among the Ingasana, a tribe close to the Ethiopian border. Another church is among the Zumzum and we intend to start another church among the Uzuduk. That’s our intention right now but our needs are too great and we have to pray for that. The South Sudan economy is crumbling. Things are very bad.

“Things are very bad.”

Local persons cannot afford to buy things in the market, such as fuel. Gas is twice the normal price in the towns and elsewhere. There’s a scarcity of supplies in all cities in South Sudan. There are virtually no roads, which are very bad and in terrible shape. Moving supplies becomes impossible. As Baptists, we are just a small movement in the country. Due to the political situation in the north of South Sudan, most of our churches there were destroyed. In Bentiu we had two churches and one primary school destroyed, as well as two churches and one primary school in Leer. In Malakal another church was lost. In Balliet County, almost 100 miles away to the east, we lost 10 churches. In Nasir, close to the Ethiopian border in a place called Maiut all those churches were devastated. They were destroyed. In all, 26 of our churches in the northern part of South Sudan were destroyed in the civil war, most of them burned in 2013 and 2014. We also lost church members, including

pastors. They were either killed or they fled to Ethiopia, to the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, or to Sudan. These Christians lost everything. They went empty handed with nothing, beginning a new life like a baby. Their situation is terrible. I met some in February this year (2015) and they were in bad shape.

Baptist churches in South Sudan are infant

churches, many starting less than five years ago. Some are meeting under trees. So it is very difficult for the churches to respond to such huge needs. You can’t expect an infant child to help somebody who is destitute or who is in need, so it is hard.

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Left and following page: Scenes from an IDP camp where South Sudanese have fled for safety from war zones of massive destruction and killing

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SOUTH SUDAN