Vice-President Machar Tests Positive for COVID-19
Riek Machar, South Sudan’s former rebel leader and now its first vice president, has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Machar’s wife, Minister of Defense Angelina Teny, and “a number of his office staff and bodyguards” have also been infected, according to a statement posted May 16 on the office’s Facebook page and attributed to Press Secretary James Gatdek Dak.
Children assisted by AFRECS with food and school supplies have lived in this United Nations temporary Protection of Civilians camp #3, Juba, South Sudan since 2013.
COVID-19 Epidemic Reaches Yambio
Samuel Peni, Archbishop of Western Equatoria and Bishop of Yambio, reported on May 21: “We have now 481 confirmed cases, yesterday was the highest (134 in a day). We have no proper health facilities and people may be dying without any medications. May God help us. I am doing a lot of awareness in Yambio on Yambio FM radio.”
On April 23 the World Health Organization announced it was supporting the South Sudan Ministry of Health by prepositioning viral transport medium and personal protective equipment for collecting samples in twenty cities, including Yambio, Renk, Rumbek, Wau, Bor, and Kajo-Keji, and transporting them for testing in Juba.
(Read the entire WHO announcement here.)
Health and Mental Health
South Sudan ranks No. 3 on the world’s list of “most fragile” states, behind only Yemen and Somalia. “Sadly,” comments Dr. Kenneth Scott, an investigator for the United Nations Human Rights Commission, “many of the adjacent or nearby states are also in the top 15.”
Civil war from 2013 through 2018 in South Sudan not only killed almost 400,000 people. It also left a nation of traumatized survivors in their wake. Millions live in camps or squalid conditions that add to the mental and emotional strain.
The entire mental health program for this country of more than 10 million people relies on one hospital ward equipped with eight beds and served by one psychologist. Less than two percent of nationwide funding is put towards the health sector, and no money is specifically allocated for mental health services, according to Dr. Felix Lado Johnson, the state minister of health in Juba.
(Source: Sam Mednick, TheNewHumanitarian.org, Jan. 1, 2019)
Nzara is Praying for Iowa
Bishop Richard Aquilla, Diocese of Nzara, reports that so far they are free from COVID-19, but there is no movement within the country. He expressed his sorrow for the situation of their companion diocese of Iowa, asking Nzara parishes to pray and fast for Iowa, and asking Iowa to join them in the Spirit and lift up Iowa’s voice to the risen Lord for His mercy.
This photo was sent to Ray Gaebler April 14 by Bishop Aquilla with thanks to God for peanut seed and tools for 1,000 families, purchased with funds from Iowa. Near the end of the dry season in February, a wildfire in Nzara spread to twenty-five square miles. Thousands were left with no homes, food, or seed for a new peanut crop. The rainy season for planting was coming soon.
“I Forgive Them”: Trauma Healing and Peacemaking
Concluding a 5-day trauma-healing training for 52 South Sudan military chaplains, held in July 2018 at the ECSS guesthouse in Juba, a chaplain named Hassan revealed the pain he had felt over the war in Darfur: “The cows ate all the crops, the people were beaten. In camps outside South Sudan, we lacked food. I was bitter. Now I have forgiven.” A priest name Benjamin, despite having been beaten, arrested, and had his house demolished, said, “I forgive them.” A third chaplain testified, “I forgive brothers who are killing brothers on the roads. I pray that our country will be free.”
Archbishop Justin Badi Arama thanked trainers from Flame International (UK) and the ECSS Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Commission (JPRC), led by the Rev. Steven M. Mou, for their intense work with these police and army chaplains.
The Archbishop was asked by Dr. John Garang during the 1983-2005 civil war to serve as chaplain in the Sudan People’s Liberation Army barracks in Maridi. Now the Archbishop urged all chaplains to stand with people who are suffering and be truthtellers — wherever and at all times. “You need to work extra hard to change the thinking of our people in the Army and other organized forces,” he said. “Change the lack of nationalism in our hearts, and bring peace in the whole country.”
The Justice, Peace, and Reconciliation Commission, according to Mou, facilitated two similar trauma healing and reconciliation sessions in 2019. One took place in Wau, with support of University of Winnipeg Global College, Canada, the other in Renk Diocese, supported by Five Talents and AFRECS.
(Source: James Atem Tuor, Stephen Mayuen Mou.)
The Episcopal University of South Sudan and Sudan
Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, the University’s Chancellor, is looking for a Vice Chancellor –. someone who can put together a strategy and implement it. He seeks the skills of ‘can do’ project management: finance, setting up an organizational structure (governance and staffing), bringing together the administrations of the participating colleges, and setting up systems for human resources, fundraising etc. A commitment of a minimum of three years is needed.
Support for details of academic infrastructure and administration is being sought both within South Sudan (through colleagues at Juba University, for instance), in neighboring countries (St Paul’s University, Kenya and Uganda Christian University, for example) and through The Episcopal University of South Sudan and Sudan Project in the UK or Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion in New York City.
Currently TEU is 100% dependent on funding from ECSSSUP, which mainly pays salaries of the staff, including Project Director Dr. Joseph Bilal at $700 per month. One of the first jobs of the new VC would be to get the finance reporting systems in order so that TEU is in a position to be able to apply for institutional grant funding.
(Source: Dr. Eeva John, Episcopal University Sudan Project, UK)
Appeal for Appointment of Governors, from a Voice in the South Sudanese Diaspora
On behalf of the Coalition of Advocates for South Sudan and People of South Sudan (CASS), Reuben Garang on May 6 sent a message to the Government of South Sudan. Garang argued:
“Lawlessness is contributing to the starvation and food insecurity for over half the population. We recognize that the COVID-19 disease, price of oil, general economy, poor crops yield and major floods of late 2019 all are serious concerns as well as lawlessness. However, lawlessness can be addressed quickly by appointing the State and Administrative Area leaders with direction to take immediate action to curb crime. Please give this your immediate attention.”
Bill Andress, a Presbyterian friend of the Sudans living in North Carolina, stated: “The Government of South Sudan has the responsibility to protect the people from massive criminal violence now.”
CASS followed up with a panel discussion on May 17 watched by 902 people. (See www.facebook.com/CoalitionofAdvocatesforSouthSudan)
National Government and the Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (R-JMEC)
South Sudan’s fragile government and the peace agreement that formed it are in jeopardy after the country’s president and vice president disagreed on how to share regional states between them. A communiqué dated May 7, 2020, signed by President Salva Kiir, indicates that consensus has been reached on the allocation of states. However, First Vice President Riek Machar and a coalition of political parties distanced themselves from the document.
According to the communiqué, President Kiir’s former administration, the SPLM-IG, will steer leadership of six states (Central Equatoria, Eastern Equatoria, Lakes State, Warrap State, Northern Bahr El Ghazal State and Unity State); the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-IO) under Dr Machar will lead three states (Jonglei, Western Bahr El Ghazal and Western Equatoria); while the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) will head one state (Upper Nile). The OPP did not obtain a state. (The rule of the power-sharing ratio at the state level provides that the SPLM-IG gets 55%, SPLM-IO 27%, SSOA 10% and OPP 08%.)
“The allocation of the states … is that of the president and not a decision taken by consensus,” Machar said in a statement. “It does not take into consideration the relative prominence each party has in each of the respective states or counties.”
Alan Boswell, a senior analyst with the Brussels-based think tank International Crisis Group, said the disagreement between Kiir and Machar endangered the gains made so far toward a lasting peace. “South Sudan’s new unity government is facing its biggest crisis yet. Despite the attention of South Sudan’s international partners on the COVID-19 pandemic, quick action from regional leaders will be key so that this latest power squabbling doesn’t escalate.”
Ting Mayai, a researcher at Sudd Institute in Juba, commented, “Apart from the delayed appointment of governors, we still have not reconstituted Parliament…We have intercommunal clashes, threats of Covid-19, and floods. Those issues would have been addressed by state governments.”
South Sudan ended five years of civil war in 2018, but conflict between President Salva Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar — who led the opposing sides in the war — have been major obstacles to completing the peace process. The two disagree over who will run South Sudan’s states and how to integrate different fighting forces. The civil war, often fought along ethnic lines, claimed an estimated 400,000 lives, triggered a famine, and created Africa’s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Previous South Sudan peace deals have held for only a matter of months before fighting resumed.
Please keep the South Sudanese people in your prayers, as the pandemic further complicates their already very difficult existence. We urge you to reach out to individuals and families you are already connected with through email, WhatsApp and other social media. If you would care to make a contribution to AFRECS, including the response to COVID-19, please click here. Meanwhile stay safe where you are in the United States.