Sudan Bishop pleads for outside help

Some 20,000 people walked over two miles in South Sudan barefoot this month in silent protest of the recent bloodshed by the LRA. Our local partners in Nzara, southern Sudan, reported that the event took place in Yambio, a nearby town.

The three-day prayer-protest was called by Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of Tombura-Yambio, who said that the event gathered more than twice the number he expected.

Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala organised the protestThe walk was organized in protest of a series of deadly and gruesome attacks in August.

A gang from the Lord's Resistance Army stormed into Our Lady Queen of Peace church and desecrated the building before abducting 17 people mostly in their teens and early 20s. Shortly afterward, one of the kidnapped men was found dead, tied to a tree and mutilated. Of the 17 who disappeared, three returned the following day; the rest are unaccounted for.

A week after that attack, six people were ambushed in a forest and nailed to pieces of wood fastened to the ground. Those who discovered the bodies several days later likened it to a grotesque crucifixion scene.

Meanwhile, reports came in of 12 more people abducted in another nearby village. Bishop Hiiboro stated: "The government here cannot make a real difference to the [Lord's Resistance Army] problem. They kept promising that they had the issue under control but now we see the reality. [...] "What happened in August was a huge shock to us. It was hard to take in the fact that we were so exposed to such a risk.

"Afterwards people kept coming to me with such suffering in their eyes, begging me to do something about the situation - to get back their children and grandchildren who have disappeared."

The bishop explained that the three days of prayer and pilgrimage were focused on "coming to terms with what has happened in [the state of] Western Equatoria [...] We wanted to make a silent protest to tell the government that things weren’t going well."

In a letter from the Comboni Sisters, our local partners in Nzara, which we received a few days ago, they wrote:

"Yes, like the people we too are sometimes afraid, when it gets dark and we are told that the LRA are near, we are hardly able to sleep, we pray, we peep through the window to see if they are coming. When morning comes and nothing has happened [...] we start our work. Often we meet people from different villages, narrating to us they had to sleep in the bush, or even that some of their family members or neighbours were abducted or killed. In a short time news spread and there is a common feeling of sorrow but also unity."

"At present the situation is still confused and a bit alarming. People have left the villages; from 3 miles from Nzara to the borders with Congo (28 miles approx.) there is not a single person, apart from Ugandan and South Sudan soldiers, plus groups of LRA attacking here and there. Nzara and Yambio are packed with people: refugees from Congo, internally displaced people, during these days people are running from Ezo (at the border with Central Africa) where LRA are finishing people and villages."

These recent stories, amongst others which you will have read about on our blog, have inspired IRT to take action. As IRT was already organizing the GuluWalk 2009, we decided to use this event to set up our own Barefoot Peace Walk. Like those who walked in Yambio, we are aiming to gather a group of people to walk barefoot and in silence with us, to get as much international attention as possible for the suffering of the people in the LRA dominated region.

Please get involved, check out the information about the Barefoot Peace Walk!