Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Boy displaced by conflict peers through fence in contested Sudanese border region. (CNS photo/Paul Jeffrey)

As fighting continued in Juba, the capital city of South Sudan, and spread to other Sudanese cities, Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian leaders urged reconciliation and offered to serve as mediators in the conflict. Thousands have fled to the presumed safety of U.N. compounds after street fighting broke out in Juba on Dec. 15 between supporters of the former vice president, Riek Machar, an ethnic Nuer, against supporters of President Salva Kiir of the dominant Dinka clan. “Whatever has happened in Juba over the last few days, we are concerned about the consequences,” the church leaders said in a statement released on Dec. 17. Referring to the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement, he said, “There is a political problem between leaders. This should not be turned into an ethnic problem. Sadly, on the ground it is developing into tribalism. This must be defused urgently before it spreads.” Hundreds have been killed and injured so far in the conflict.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Athletes who never make mistakes, who never lose, do not exist. Champions are not perfectly functioning machines, but real men and women, who, when they fall, find the courage to get back on their feet.
Pope Leo XIVJune 15, 2025
In his video message at White Sox stadium, Pope Leo encouraged young people to look inside themselves, recognize God’s presence in their own hearts and “recognize that God is present and that, perhaps in many different ways, God is reaching out to you,
Pope Leo XIVJune 14, 2025
The June 14 celebration featured the first-ever airing of Pope Leo XIV’s video message to the world’s youth at the White Sox stadium in Chicago’s Southside.
Pope Leo XIV prays at the conclusion of an audience with pilgrims in Rome for the Holy Year 2025 in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican June 14, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Pope Leo called for a “commitment to build a world that is safer and free from the nuclear threat.”
Gerard O’ConnellJune 14, 2025