(Linet Maina. CISA).
JUBA, JULY 2, 2024 (CISA)-Catholic bishops in South Sudan have faulted the government for being ill-prepared for the upcoming December General Elections while also condemning the ongoing power struggles between the different political factions “working for their own vested interests rather than the good of the nation and the ordinary people.”
(Crux. Ngala Killian Ciimptom).
As South Sudan gears up for general elections in December, Catholic bishops in the world’s newest country say they are disappointed at the government’s lack of preparedness. It will be the first ever election conducted in the country since it obtained independence from Sudan in 2011. In a June 29 pastoral message at the end of a two-day meeting in the capital Juba, the bishops said an election isn’t a one-off affair but a process, and blasted the government for failing to live up to the bidding of such an undertaking. “Like all South Sudanese, we look forward with hope to the day when free and fair elections can be held in our country, but we are disappointed at the government’s lack of preparation,” they said.
(Jonah McKeown. ACI Africa).
For over a year, the people of Sudan — one of the largest countries in Africa — have suffered under a brutal civil war that has reduced the capital, Khartoum, to a war zone.
Amid the chaos and a complex set of competing political interests, children and the poor have been hit hardest.
Just last week, the United Nations confirmed that 35 children were among those killed in one of the war’s deadliest attacks to date. All told, at least 15,550 people have reportedly been killed in the fighting and some 10 million people have been displaced, many internally.