A council of various Christian churches in South Sudan launched a peace initiative to help end the ongoing conflict in the country.
According to Fides, the Southern Sudan Council of Churches (SSCC) officially launched the peace process on Saturday, following a meeting of the Southern Sudanese Churches held in Kigali, Rwanda, in June.
The SSCC stated that the peace process has three main objectives: advocacy, neutral forum and reconciliation. The council hopes to «influence and change the attitudes of the population and government policies and other institutions as regards to peace and reconciliation in the country.»
Archbishop Paulino Lukudu Loro of Juba stressed the need for an end to the civil war in the country.
«This war has to end! The peace agreement has to be signed to defend life,» he said at the council’s meeting on August 8th. The war, he continued, «has made people indifferent to human life; people are dying and nobody cares.»
Lead negotiators of the warring factions of South Sudan are currently holding peace talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.