TONNY ONYULO reports on humanitarian efforts…
Nairobi, Kenya
Churches in neighbouring countries continue to pray and aid millions of victims of Sudan’s civil war that has left thousands of people dead and more than three million displaced.
The north-east African country of more than 45.6 million people descended into armed conflict on 15th April after months of rising tensions between rival factions of the military government seeking to control the country. The war is between the Sudanese armed forces, led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary force led by Mohamed “Hemedti” Hamdan Dagalo.
Sudanese people, who fled the violence in their country and newly arrived, wait to be registered at the camp near the border between Sudan and Chad in Adre, Chad, on 26th April, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Mahamat Ramadane/File photo
For the last few weeks, the chaos has spread in various cities and towns across the country, including the capital Khartoum, resulting in deaths, displacements, destruction of properties, and shutdown of essential services, including hospitals, food services, electricity, and water supply. The United Nations says a record 25 million people – more than half of Sudan’s population – are in need of aid and protection.
“This is the highest number we have ever seen in the country [and] the response plan we are launching today reflects that new reality; the funding requirement of nearly $US2.6 billion is also the highest for any humanitarian appeal for Sudan,” Ramesh Rajasingham, Head and Representative of OCHA in Geneva, said on 17th May, during the launch appeal of $US3 billion to deliver life-saving aid to millions of victims of Sudan’s civil war.
“We are not ignorant of the fact that human greed drives war in our world today. It is in the quest for power that we are today experiencing bombardment.”
– Rev Dr Gibson Ezekiel Lesmore, director of programmes at the All Africa Conference Churches
Saudi Arabia and the United States are leading talks on a ceasefire to end the civil war.
The humanitarian crisis in the country has prompted churches and NGOs to reach out to families in their homes and those staying as refugees across the country to help them with relief items, including food, water, clothes, and medicines, and evacuate them to safer zones.
“We are not ignorant of the fact that human greed drives war in our world today,” Rev Dr Gibson Ezekiel Lesmore, director of programmes at the All Africa Conference of Churches, said during a recent online Africa youth prayer for Sudan. “It is in the quest for power that we are today experiencing bombardment,”
Pastor James Chol Noon, of the Evangelical Church in Sudan, said thousands of families were suffering and going to bed hungry across the country, especially in Khartoum and other cities and towns throughout the country, including Darfur in Sudan’s western region where fighting has been intensive.
Pastor Noon said the church has been sharing the little food they had with families facing hunger but noted that their food stock had depleted, and members of their churches and other families seeking refuge at their church premises also lacked food and other essential relief items.
Noon said displaced children, their families, and refugees who had already been displaced before the war began were the most directly impacted by conflict and vulnerable to hunger. He revealed that the situation could worsen if the war does not stop immediately and the country does not receive humanitarian support from other nations to avert hunger.
“The situation is worse in the country. There’s no food to eat, and there’s nowhere you can go and buy foodstuffs and other essential items because it’s not safe out there. The attacks are all over,” he said, noting that sounds of gunshots, blasts, air strikes and artillery exchanges have rocked the country since the war began.
“We pray for our leaders to agree and end this war because it affects citizens. We also appeal for help from the international community and other donors to help us as the church to reach more people suffering from hunger.”
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan. PICTURE: Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio.
Since the war began in mid-April, the Catholic churches in South Sudan have been raising funds and relief items to help victims of the ongoing war in Sudan. Church leaders said they have been raising funds and relief items, sending them to Sudan to help people affected by the war.
Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala, of the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio in South Sudan, said they had committed to using the money they were raising to help the people of Sudan with food, shelter, medicine and other essential aid. The bishop also said they were partnering with NGOs and the government of South Sudan to evacuate religious leaders and other people caught up in the war.
Bishop Kussala said the amount they had raised as a church in South Sudan had helped thousands of people in Sudan with relief items such as food, water, blankets, clothes, mosquito nets and shelter items. He said the church in South Sudan was also hosting thousands of returnees and refugees from Sudan in their various churches, schools and convents.
“It’s regrettable with what’s happening in Sudan. People are dying and suffering, and no-one can help them,” said the bishop. “As a church, we have decided to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters. We are sending relief items to them and even hosting hundreds of those fleeing the country in our churches, convents and homes. We will continue to raise funds and relief items to ensure the people of Sudan do not suffer as we watch.”
Sr Beta Almendra, of the Catholic Diocese of Wau in South Sudan, said she and other religious leaders were mobilising resources to reach more people in Sudan. She said, for example, churches in South Sudan were using church Masses and other gatherings to collect more money and relief items, which they are sending to Sudan to help more victims of war.
“I want to thank the people of South Sudan because they have responded positively to the appeal and are contributing whatever they have to help the suffering people of Sudan,” said Almendra. “The people of South Sudan are also standing in solidarity with the Sudanese people fleeing their country by hosting them and treating them like their brothers and sisters.”
Caritas and Christian Aid are also helping thousands of internally displaced persons and those fleeing the country across the border. The aid includes food, cash, clean water, clothes, blankets, soap, mosquito nets, health care, and other essential items.
Christian Aid, partnering with organisations like Lutheran World Federation and Africa Development Aid, are providing shelter to those who have fled from their homes and those at the borders crossing to other countries, including South Sudan, Chad, Egypt, Central African Republic, and Ethiopia. They are also reuniting children with their families who are being separated due to the ongoing conflict.
Rosamond Bennett, Christian Aid, with women in South Sudan. PICTURE: Courtesy of Christian Aid)
Rosamond Bennett, Christian Aid Ireland’s CEO, who recently visited the border town of Renk, where those fleeing Sudan find themselves stranded without shelter or essential services, said the charity was helping families by giving them $US100 to help them purchase food and other essential items. The charity was also helping hundreds of women and girls by giving them kits containing soap and sanitary towels.
“When people arrive at the border they are tired but hopeful. Those hopes are quickly dashed when they realise there is no support for them,” Bennett said. “I saw many children who were severely malnourished. On just the first day I was there four children died from diarrhea and/or fever.”
We rely on our readers to fund Sight's work - become a financial supporter today!
For more information, head to our Subscriber's page.
Catholic aid groups Caritas Internationals and Caritas in neighbouring countries, including Ethiopia, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Kenya, are also helping those fleeing from Sudan to neighbouring countries by offering them shelter, food, healthcare, and other essential items.
But they note that more support from the international community is urgently needed to prevent the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sudan and neighboring countries hosting Sudan’s refugees.
“We appeal to all Caritas Member Organizations operating in the region, Caritas Internationalis, UN Organizations, and other NGOs to urgently step up on humanitarian support and rescue the people of the Sudan who are affected by this crisis inside the country and those who have fled to the neighboring countries,” Caritas officials said in a message they shared on 11th May.
John Chol Deng and his family are among the beneficiaries the churches have helped while stationed at Renk and waiting to enter South Sudan. The 52-year-old father of six, a South Sudanese citizen, fled the civil war in South Sudan in 2014 to a refugee settlement in Sudan with his family and grandparents.
“We were living peacefully as refugees until the war began,” said Deng, noting that his family had decided to return to their country. “Soldiers are killing people, and we had nowhere to go. The war has forced us to return to our country though it’s unsafe. But I believe it’s now safer than Sudan.”
Deng and his family received food, clean water, buckets, blankets, sanitary towels, and mats from Caritas, Christian Aid, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, and other aid groups at Renk. Last week, the Catholic Church of Malakal Diocese in north-eastern South Sudan sent a cargo boat to Renk, which transported them with 900 other refugees to Malakal town.
“We are finally here because of the help of the church,” said Deng. “The church is supporting the people of Sudan and all refugees who were staying in Sudan before the war began.”
